One Change: A World of Difference
by vybm517
Summary: What if on the day of the Kyuubi attack the Yondaime blamed the Uchihas? Who knew the changes would be so large? Sasuke Container. AU Not canon compliant.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue:

The Yondaime frowned. It was almost impossible to tell, but it was there. The slight curving of his lips, but then that was acceptable. For today had not been the best day. Today he stood before the council to be informed that in less than seven hours the Kyuubi would attack them.

"No," the Yondaime thought sadly, "Today has not been the best day."

And everything had been going so well. The Third Shinobi War had ended, he was Hokage, and his wife was pregnant. The frown deepened. By now it was slightly visible, but as the messenger continue to relate the tale of the horrible Kyuubi on a rampage the frown visibly grew until almost everyone in the room could easily see it. The Sandaime sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"No," he decided as well, "Today is not a good day."

The Yondaime glanced around the room taking in everyone else's faces. They were a mixture of shock, fear, and pure horror. But one face stood out among the crowd. Fugaku Uchiha stood with a curiously blank look upon his face looking strangely winded, but not in the least bit shocked to hear about the Kyuubi heading for Konoha. The Yondaime growled. It was, after all well known that only the Uchiha with their cursed sharingan could control the bijuu. And as the Hokage sat their thinking a horrible terrible thought came to the fore front of his brain.

It erupted, "There's no good reason for the bijuu to attack Konoha. In fact we've done nothing to provoke it, so why would it attack? Unless someone had provoked it into attacking us, but the only ones capable of doing that are the Uchiha."

It was an accepted fact that Madara Uchiha was dead. No one could survive for so long. This left the only people capable of causing this the Uchiha or namely Uchiha Fugaku.

Minato glared straight at the Uchiha and stormed from the room before declaring sharply that, "If it was the last thing he ever did he would save Konoha!"

The room remained deathly quiet after the Yondaime left before the people burst into action to defend Konoha. They would need all the help they could get.

XXX XXX XXX

Four hours later the plan was almost finalized. He and Kushina agreed that they would induce her into labor and would use Naruto to contain the demon. It was the only shot they had at winning. Minato stared down at her. He knew he should leave to discuss the plan with others, but right now all he could do was stay with her before they induced the birth.

A knock sounded on the door and a voice proclaimed, "Hokage-sama, it is Uchiha Fugaku. We wish to discuss the battle plan with you in the council room."

The Yondaime cursed and glancing down at his beloved wife hastily told her, "I love you Kushina. If you don't want to go through with this, just tell me."

But the red head merely laughed and with a cheeky grin said, "Just don't die Minato, huh." A blush colored his face and a feeling of regret washed over Minato. He almost just wanted to flee Konoha and never come back. Take his wife and unborn son and leave forever to never have to face his looming problem. Unfortunately, that was not possible and as he walked out of the room he almost wished he had had the courage to tell her that the jutsu would kill him.

XXX XXX XXX

Fugaku glanced at him slowly from the corridor in the hallway before raising an eyebrow and smirking and then walking away. Minato found himself glaring daggers into the Uchiha's back. It was his entire fault! All that damn Uchiha's fault. He had brought the Kyuubi here and now Minato was going to die for it, his son sacrificed for it, and his wife abandoned. Who else would be capable of it? Who else would commit such treachery and force Minato to abandon his family? The glare intensified until Fugaku turned around and stared at him, yet the glare remained firmly in place. It was all the stupid Uchiha's fault.

And with that Minato exploded, "You sent this damn fox on us didn't you! Who else would dare? Who else could? This is all you fault! If I could I'd kill you I would, you traitor scum Uchiha!"

It had felt as if the words were wrenched out of Minato as if he had never been meant to say them. As if he should not have said them or in another world he had not said them. But here he had and they forever changed the course of the world. For a moment Minato regretted them. But then the self righteous anger at the helplessness of his situation came back. He almost wished Fugaku would attack him just so he could kill him. But Fugaku did not attack him as Minato had hoped.

Instead his eyes widened and he stared at Minato in pure anger and rage as his eyes turned a blood red, "You dare to accuse of us causing this calamity as we die continuously against the fox's onslaught? Do you forget that right now it is the Uchiha who are holding the fox back? Do you forget how we serve Konoha as its police force? How we constantly die for Konoha? How we have always been here for Konoha as one of its cofounders?"

Minato merely laughed a bitter laugh and staring straight into the depths of Fugaku's eyes stated angrily, "Who else could command the fox to attack us? Who Fugaku? Who was unhappy with their lot in life? Who else besides the arrogant Uchiha? Don't think we have forgotten about your crimes in the past. We won't. You and the rest of the Uchiha don't deserve to be part of Konoha."

The moment he said it Minato regretted it. But it was almost as if he was not in control. As if someone else was talking through him, a bitter and angry Minato, that he could not possibly contain.

Fugaku stared at him for a moment and then his bright crimson eyes slowly turned back to black and in a defeated voice he said, "We'll never truly be part of Konoha will we? Not as long as the Senju are in charge, huh." His bitter tone continued though, "Isn't there anything we can do to prove our loyalty? Anything at all? I'd sacrifice my son, hell both my sons for the Uchiha to truly be part of this village."

And in that second a spark shone in Minato's eye. He knew Fugaku had not meant it literally and not truly, but Fugaku had two sons. One, Sasuke, Minato believed the name was had just recently been born. He could be used! But then Minato frowned. To use another's son for this was despicable, but then again the man had offered. Minato sighed. One part of him was arguing to use the boy and save Naruto. After all Naruto hadn't even been born yet. Inducing his wife into labor might even kill her. Unfortunately for Minato another larger part of him argued that using someone else's son was just plain wrong. To curse someone else's child to a life as a jinchuuriki was cruel and unjust. Minato stared at Fugaku trying to figure out what he should do when a plan presented itself. He'd let the Uchiha decide!

"Ne, Uchiha-san, you want to truly become part of the village right?" Minato offered. Fugaku slowly nodded and without a thought Minato explained the plan.

"So, you'll do it Fugaku?" Minato finally asked afterwards. Fugaku frowned. It was impossible to come to a decision this soon. Yes, he wanted the Uchiha to truly be accepted, but he hadn't meant to really sacrifice one of his sons to do it. Minato frowned at him and told him rather abruptly that they didn't have much time. Fugaku had to decide now or never.

Finally, finally Fugaku said, "Fine, I'll do it." A serious look passed on Minato's face before he nodded. But both men could not help wondering if they had made the right decision.

XXX XXX XXX

That night as the Yondaime lay dying, he did not ask the Sandaime that Naruto be seen as a hero, instead in his dying breath he begged him that the Uchiha be finally considered true Konoha ninja. No more spying on them, forcing them to join the police force, and keeping them out of high rank ninja jobs like Anbu. They had tonight proved their loyalty to Konoha in one move. The Sandaime with a ghost of a smile on his face promised to comply. A second later the once great yellow flash was dead. Slowly and sadly the Sandaime picked up the jinchuuriki of the nine-tails, Uchiha Sasuke, and stared at the boy wondering just what to do with him.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own this or any characters.

Ch. 2:

The Sandaime slowly walked away from the Yondaime carrying Uchiha Sasuke only to almost slam straight into an irate Fugaku.

"Did it work?" He questioned, "Is my son…" but he trailed off upon seeing the despair on the face of the Sandaime.

"Yes it worked. The Yondaime is dead."

The Uchiha merely grunted at the news and turned to look at Sarutobi with a piercing gaze.

"What are you planning on telling the counsel?" he questioned. Sarutobi merely laughed a bitter laugh.

"Don't worry; my friend, the Uchihas will receive their honor." His voice held only scorn. Fugaku merely nodded before a slight frown marred his face.

"Yes, but what exactly are you planning on telling them?" he questioned further.

Sarotobi frowned before responding with a level look, "What do you want me to tell them?"

The Uchiha thought for a long moment and then he sighed. With a look of regret at the bundle inside the Sandaime's arms he finally replied, "Tell them that the Hokage with the vital help of the Uchiha sealed the Kyuubi in an infant," for a moment Fugaku's voice froze before he continued, "Tell them that the Kyuubi was sealed in an orphan named Sasuke."

Sarutobi snorted before replying, "You truly believe that they will believe that? People will wonder what happened to your son."

But before the Sandaime could continue Fugaku interrupted, "I wasn't done. Tell them that the Yondaime named the orphan Sasuke after my late son Sasuke who died in the attack as a way to honor the Uchiha for helping him. It is, after all, almost the truth," Fugaku said bitterly, "My son did die in this attack."

A wave of sadness seemed to roll over the Uchiha, but still the Sandaime was not satisfied.

"What is to stop you from taking the boy as your own? Why disclaim him? After all, what will happen if he develops the sharingan?" he protested.

But Fugaku only glared at him and stated, "And what will happen if it comes out that they way the Uchiha earned their place in Konoha was by sacrificing the clan head's son? I know," he said with a snort, "that Danzo at the very least will believe we have only done this for our own benefit. To gain a weapon with amazing powers, a jinchuuriki. It is for this reason and this reason alone that Sasuke cannot have anything to do with the Uchiha clan. This is why he must be an orphan, someone who no clan can claim. He's too powerful. No clan can be allowed to sink their claws into him. Not even the Uchiha. And on the off chance he does activate the sharingan, well, we'll deal with it then."

And with that final piece Fugaku glanced sadly at the Sandaime with a world of regret in his eyes and left.

Sarutobi sighed. Fugaku was right. Sasuke Uchiha would have to become just Sasuke. That didn't stop him from sighing, though.

XXX XXX XXX

The Sandaime sat surveying the council in defeat. It was in complete havoc. No one had thought Namikaze Minato would have sealed the Kyuubi in a random orphan. They had all assumed he was going to seal it inside the Death God. What had possessed him to seal it into a child? It led to the question of what exactly to do with this Sasuke. One faction was calling for it to be turned into a weapon. Sarutobi had a strong suspicion that that group was lead by Danzo. Another faction was worried about the safety of the seal. How could they be sure that the kyubi wouldn't possess Sasuke? He sighed again. It seemed all he did today was sigh.

And the meeting had been going so well, too. The Uchiha had been accepted with smiles and clear approval when told that it was only due to them that the Kyuubi was defeated. It was rather obvious that they had finally earned the trust of the rest of the village. Even Danzo seemed to have realized it, although that hadn't stopped a scowl from appearing on his face. He had a sinking suspicion that Danzo really didn't like the Uchiha and for far more than a professional reason, but he quickly dismissed such a rebellious thought. It wouldn't do to think about such things. It would only give him a headache. Then they had accepted him back as Hokage what with the Yondaime dead. The council was heavily hit by this, of course. And then had come the inevitable mentioning of exactly how the Kyuubi had been defeated which had led to the pandemonium. Sarutobi sighed again and was about to intervene when surprisingly someone else did it for him.

Fugaku Uchiha stood glaring at the crowd and said in absolute anger, "How dare you disregard the legacy of the Yondaime. He wanted the boy to be seen as a hero. He has every right to live a normal life," the Uchiha's eyes blazed, "If he wishes to become a ninja he will, if he doesn't he won't. His future is his alone to decide."

Sarutobi found his eyebrows rising. Had Minato really wanted the boy to be seen as a hero? It was such a Minato thing to do that Sarutobi couldn't help, but believe it. But then the skeptical part of him returned and he could not help, but wonder if anyone else had been the container would Fugaku have bothered with his little speech? Sarutobi doubted it and a firm scowl descended on his lips. It didn't matter what Fugaku had said anyways, though, because the room still remained divided in its factions and none were in favor of letting the boy decide his own future.

Sarutobi had had enough and he finally interfered, "Fugaku is right. Minato would have wanted the boy to be seen as a hero. But it seems obvious that you cannot possibly accomplish this. This is to remain an S- class secret. If anyone is told about Sasuke containing the Kyuubi they will die."

A hush fell over the room before the council members slowly nodded and left the room.

But as Danzo walked out he looked at the Sandaime squarely and said, "You're making a mistake," before calmly leaving.

The Sandaime sighed, again, before frowning. By now it was all over the village that the Kyuubi was sealed in an orphan named Sasuke. He frowned. By tomorrow it would be all over the village that if you talked about the Kyuubi you would die. Sarutobi rubbed his forehead tiredly and decided it was the best he could do before slowly heading home.

XXX XXX XXX

Sasuke as he was called or Sasuke No-name as he liked to call himself in his head was staring at himself in the mirror. A slow tremulous smile made its way onto his lips. Today he was joining the academy. He was going to be a ninja, but not just any ninja, the best ninja ever! He looked around him and a slight frown appeared. He lived all by himself in a slightly rundown apartment, but that wasn't what made him frown. It was almost time to go and Sasuke definitely didn't want to be late. Today was the day he was going to prove himself! Everyone was going to accept him, he just knew it. He'd be the most popular person and everyone would want to be friends with him. Maybe he'd even be the rookie of the year! No one would ignore him or glare at him. No way! He was Sasuke No-name! He frowned again. His name would sound a whole lot better if he had a last name to go along with it. Shaking his head almost as if to shake away the thought Sasuke ran out into the street's of Konoha heading towards the academy. No one paid him a second look or even said hi to him. Instead they pretended he didn't even exist, but today Sasuke was too excited to care or to even notice at all. Today after all was the day he was going to become the greatest ninja ever!

XXX XXX XXX

Later that day a boy with black hair, pale skin, and three whiskers on each of his cheeks walked home dejected. It started to pour and parents quickly rounded up their children and ushered them indoors. The boy glanced around maybe hoping that someone would bother to notice him, but everyone ignored him. Someone even sent a glare in his direction as if to say that the rain was all his fault. Sasuke couldn't help it. He burst into a run feeling tears falling down his face as he raced home. Once he got home he couldn't help, but replay the horrid day over and over again in his mind.

When he had arrived at the academy no one had wanted to show him where his classroom was and when he went to ask a secretary he had just gotten a glare for his efforts.

When he had finally found the room he was supposed to be in his new sensei had glared at him and merely said, "So you think you can just show up late on your first day, huh brat? Well it doesn't work that way," the man had glared at him before continuing, "You like everyone else here has to follow the rules. Just because you think you are something special doesn't excuse you."

He had then forced poor Sasuke to sit in a corner by himself and when it came to handing out materials had given Sasuke the worst of the worst. Parts of his book were hardly legible. But that hadn't been the worst of it. No, the other children had laughed at Sasuke when he'd been berated. And then whenever Sasuke had a question he had found himself summarily ignored or glared at. The other children had found this hilarious and made sure he knew by laughing as loud as they could. Sasuke had the sinking feeling in his stomach that he would not be winning any popularity contests anytime soon.

At lunch time this theory had all but proven correct. All the other children avoided him and wouldn't even talk to him. Instead they gathered around another boy who the girls gushed over and the boys were awed by. It was almost as if he were holding court. Sasuke couldn't help the rush of jealousy that sprang out of him. Why did they like this boy so much? What made him so great? He quickly frowned before berating himself, Sasuke No-name, was jealous of no one!

So he walked forward to get a better view. When Sasuke saw who it was he stopped in his tracks and snorted. Of course it was him, that stupid kid who just happened to be the son of the Yondaime. Stupid blonde haired blue eyed Namikaze Naruto. Why did the dumb blonde get everything? Everyone loved him and sure he was funny and super friendly and always pulling pranks, but really there was nothing else to like about him, nothing at all. And no, Sasuke was not jealous of him, not at all. After all Sasuke No-name was jealous of no one. Not even the stupid son of the Yondaime hokage who just happened to be loved by everyone. Nope, not even him.

So, Sasuke stared at the group some more, before gathering up his courage and walking forward to join them. The blonde haired boy looked up from laughing and smiled at him and Sasuke relaxed. The boy had recognized him!

"Hey! I'm Naruto Namikaze and you are?" Naruto asked. Sasuke felt himself freeze. He didn't know who Sasuke was? Sasuke sent a death glare at the other boy who didn't seem to even notice it. Sasuke supposed he'd never been glared at in his entire life and didn't know what one was.

Slowly Sasuke, as if talking to an idiot, had stated, "My name is Sasuke. We've met."

At the words we've met Sasuke let out a little of his annoyance at the other boy for not knowing him. But the other boy still didn't recognize him and a slight frown passed on his face.

"We have? Oh, hmm what's your last name? That'll help me remember!" Naruto had uttered with a grin. Sasuke hated when anyone other than himself brought up his lack of a last name and he glared bitterly at the other boy who merely grinned back. Was the other boy making fun of him? Sasuke wouldn't stand for it. At least not after his atrocious morning and the next thing he knew he had punched the other boy. Well, he had attempted to. At the last second the other boy had dodged and was now staring at Sasuke.

"Let's go!" another boy yelled at Naruto, "He's not worth the effort."

And with that Namikaze Naruto frowned, turned around and walked away with all his little friends following him. Sasuke hated him more in that second than he thought he had hated anyone before. Did he not think that Sasuke was worth anything? That he wasn't a challenge?

The rest of the afternoon was spent again being tormented by his sensei and classmates who took it rather badly that he'd attempted to hit the prize Namikaze. It didn't seem to matter to them that he'd missed. By the end of the day all Sasuke wanted to do was escape the horrible academy. When the bell rang Sasuke sprang out of the building and started to walk home and that was when the rain had fallen.

"What a miserable way to end a miserable day," Sasuke couldn't help, but think at home. All his dreams, his goals had been crushed all because of one stupid blonde. Sasuke glowered and then cried miserably into his pillow. Maybe he wasn't cut out to be a ninja after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own this.

Ch. 3:

Sasuke frowned as he walked slowly towards the Hokage tower. He was missing class at the academy, but right then he couldn't bring himself to care. It was time to tell the Hokage that he would not be a ninja. Sasuke sighed before setting his shoulders and barging right into the Hokage's office.

The Hokage looked surprised to see him and with a frown asked, "What are you doing here, Sasuke? Shouldn't you be in class?"

Sasuke set his shoulders narrowed his eyes and gathered his courage.

"I don't want to be a ninja! Their dumb and stupid and only an idiot would be a ninja," Sasuke answered. The Hokage's eyebrows rose and he looked over Sasuke with an air of great surprise.

"You don't want to be a ninja? But I thought your goal in life was to be the greatest ninja ever," Sarutobi questioned. Sasuke scowled at him, but didn't respond.

The old man slowly continued, "Why the sudden change of heart, Sasuke?" Sasuke frowned and felt tears rising to his eyes. He would not cry. He wouldn't show weakness, but then he could no longer contain his emotions. A slight sob escaped him and before he knew it he was explaining his awful day.

"And then it started raining, and it was just awful jiji," Sasuke cried. He hadn't meant to let it slip, the Jiji. Now the Sandaime was practically grinning. Sasuke hadn't after all called him jiji in two years and to know that he still held a special spot in the boy's heart was heartwarming. Sasuke on the other hand was now frowning. He had promised himself two years ago he would never call the man by that stupid nickname ever again. The man didn't deserve a special spot in his heart. Sasuke scowled. Naruto was his favorite. Whenever Naruto was around the man always favored him just because he was the son of the Yondaime and Sasuke got ignored.

It had come to a head two years ago on Sasuke's birthday. Every year the old man spent it with him, but that year he had forgotten. He'd been too busy with that stupid blonde and hadn't even gotten Sasuke a birthday present. For weeks Sasuke had fumed trying to figure out why everyone loved the blonde more than him. He had come to the solution that it was because of the blonde's pranks.

So, Sasuke had set up an elaborate prank believing that once he did it everyone would like him just like the blond. The prank had gone off without a hitch, but instead of being beloved the villager's had sent scathing glares in his direction. Sasuke hadn't understood. What had he done wrong? Sasuke had eventually decided that his prank just hadn't been funny. So, he sat planning the next one for months to make sure it was absolutely perfect. But right before he was about to set it off Naruto did a prank almost identical to his first one. But no one had scolded him! The Sandaime who had been absolutely furious over Sasuke's prank had laughed at the blonde's prank. And in a second Sasuke realized that no matter how many pranks he pulled he'd never be as well liked as Naruto was. Sasuke's pranking career had ended right there. Really, it hadn't been difficult to realize that Naruto, as the son of the Yondaime, would always be loved while Sasuke, the orphan, would forever be hated. Right then and their Sasuke had stopped calling the Sandaime Jiji. Even he liked Naruto more than Sasuke.

For weeks he had moped before he realized that if he was the strongest ninja ever everyone would have to like him! He had declared it his goal and just recently the Sandaime had enrolled him in the academy. So, it was no wonder that the Sandaime was surprised by his wish to quit.

He now stood staring down at Sasuke before finally saying, "Don't worry Sasuke. I'll get you a new sensei and class. I'm sure you'll like it a whole lot better!"

Sasuke slowly smiled and then nodded. The Sandaime smiled at the boy as he left. Now what class to put him in?

XXX XXX XXX

The next day Sasuke dragged himself to the academy. He wasn't looking forward to it. A horrible part of him whispered that it'd be just like the first day and that the Hokage had lied to him. Sasuke groaned and trudged his way to the academy his feeling of nervousness growing every second. But, surprisingly when he walked in a nice looking lady guided him immediately to his new classroom. A feeling of elation rose through Sasuke as he walked into the classroom. He hadn't been late!

Slowly looking around he groaned. Of course the Sandaime had put him in the same class as it. The blonde idiot Namikaze was in his class. The blonde glanced at him smiled and waved. Then the boy with a flourish waved Sasuke to come sit by him. All the other kids looked jealous as if this was some great honor. But Sasuke merely glared at the boy and chose a seat as far away from him as possible. He didn't need the Namikaze's help! Sasuke sat bored waiting for their sensei to enter and slowly the nervousness came back. What if their sensei hated him?

When a man walked in a grin split Sasuke's face. He was so, so lucky. He wondered for a moment if the Sandaime had arranged this just for him, but quickly stifled such a thought. The man had black hair and tired eyes and walked up to the board with a frown on his face. The children all around Sasuke burst into whispers. This man was an Uchiha! Everyone knew who the Uchiha were. They had a clan compound right in the middle of Konoha, but at least half of them just lived in random areas of Konoha. They were everywhere and you could constantly see them on the streets. But that's not why the children were whispering. It was just really strange to see one teaching at the academy. The Uchiha were awesome ninja. They were one of the reasons Konoha was so largely feared. They were also by far the largest clan in Konoha and by far Sasuke's favorite. The Uchiha were always nice to him. They said hi to him in the street and constantly pointed him in the right direction. They didn't even ignore his existence. That didn't mean though that they let Sasuke play with their kids or anything, but they were still pretty nice to him.

Their sensei had by this point written his name on the board with the white chalk, which he now twirled absentmindedly in his hand. He turned to look at them and said, "My name is Uchiha Yakumi," he frowned and then said, "Call me Yakumi- sensei. Got it?"

He looked around the classroom before nodding and continuing, "You are here to learn to be ninja. There will be no lollygagging, fangirling, fanboying, or whatever it is you do. Being a ninja is serious business. I expect you to treat it as such."

He slowly looked around the room catching everyone's eye as he said this. His eyes stayed particularly long on two girls, one blonde haired and one pink haired girl before moving on.

He then looked down at the book in his hand before saying, "According to your entry level test Naruto Namikaze is the number one in your class right now," he ran his hand through his dark hair before saying, "I expect you all to challenge him for that spot. Now, let's begin." Sasuke frowned at the Namikaze. He would always be number one wouldn't he? Then a brilliant though occurred to Sasuke. If he beat Naruto for the rookie of the year spot everyone would have to realize he was better! A grin split Sasuke's face. He was going to beat the dumb blonde!

It was a lot harder to do than to think Sasuke realized quickly. This sensei treated him fairly and answered all his questions, but the Namikaze was still light years ahead of him. He'd already had training and knew how to properly throw a kunai. Sasuke was just a beginner. Their sensei told him he was doing phenomenally well for a first timer, but it still wasn't enough. When it came time for taijutsu the blonde already knew a family style which easily trumped the basic academy taijutsu that Sasuke was just slowly mastering with the help of Yakumi- sensei. In the jutsu section, well, Sasuke didn't even want to think about it. Yakumi- sensei's help was awesome, but Sasuke could hardly control his chakra, much less perform a jutsu. It seemed no matter what he did he was still five steps behind the blonde. The only area he had an edge in was book smarts, which Sasuke found surprisingly easy. He reflected that it was probably due to his photographic memory and the fact that Namikaze thought that learning numbers and dates was useless and so didn't really try. Still, Sasuke was only barely climbing from his place in the middle of the class. He wondered how badly he would be doing if he had kept his old sensei. He had a funny feeling he would have been at the bottom of the class.

And then there was the fact that the blonde was still trying to be friends with him. Sasuke wondered if someone had put him up to it. Of course the blonde wanting to be friends with him wasn't all bad. Other kids following Naruto's example tried to be friends with him as well. At the very least Sasuke didn't always sit alone during lunch and sometimes was asked to join their games. Sasuke always gladly accepted and joined in. He was having the time of his life. Was this what it was like to have friends? But then he'd remember that they were only doing it because of the Namikaze and he'd excuse himself from the game and go train. He had to beat the stupid blonde, he just had to!

One day Yakumi- sensei walked right up to him and asked, "Why don't you play with them Sasuke?"

He had a slight frown on his face. Sasuke slowly glanced at him. Didn't he understand? Slowly scowling he said, "They only ask me to join them because of Naruto. They don't actually want to be my friend! I have to be number one, so they can all see I'm better than that Namikaze. So they'll be friends with me because of me!"

Yakumi smiled a sad smile before asking, "So that's why you train so hard?"

Sasuke merely grunted and returned to throwing his kunai at the target. Yakumi frowned while looking at the boy. If only he had a clan to teach him the boy could be incredible.

XXX XXX XXX

Month's later, right before the school year was to end, Yakumi found himself at dinner with Fugaku and Mikoto. Itachi was noticeably absent. He was probably on one of his jounin missions' right about now. Yakumi sighed. He was almost jealous of Itachi for his skill, him and Shisui. The best of the Uchiha they said. Well, whatever. He'd been pretty great in his prime, too. Not that he was really past his prime, but that was another thought for another day.

Yakumi had always been fiercely loyal to the clan but it still didn't explain why Fugaku had invited him over for dinner. It was a little fishy for the clan head to just invite him over for dinner, so he calmly waited for Fugaku to explain himself. He had a funny feeling he'd be waiting a while. Finally, finally, Fugaku spoke.

"How is the academy class your teaching?" he asked with almost idle curiosity while looking into his tea. Yakumi found his eyebrows rising in surprise. Why would Fugaku care about how his class was, unless he wanted to know about the container? Yakumi frowned. It was probably Fugaku himself who had gotten Yakumi stuck working for the academy, just so he could learn about the container. Yakumi glanced up at Fugaku and decided he wasn't going to play dumb.

"You want to know about the container, right?" he asked. Fugaku's eyes narrowed before he nodded his head. He remained staring at Yakumi waiting for him to continue.

So Yakumi obliged him, "He could be a prodigy. He get's everything right away and he's second in his class only to Namikaze Naruto. If he was from a clan he might be able to beat the Namikaze. Unfortunately he's pretty much stuck at second because without a clan he can only learn the basic jutsu and taijutsu. It's quite possible that in a year or so the clan kids will surpass him due to their clan techniques. What a waste of potential, you know? I suppose it'll get better when he joins a genin team. Maybe his sensei will be able to teach him a taijutsu style and stuff."

Yakumi ended his little speech with a shrug.

Hours later Fugaku sat thinking sadly. He'd robbed his son of his birthright, of his clan. He could still make it right, though. A small smirk crossed Fugaku's face. Uchiha Sasuke would beat out Naruto Namikaze for the number one spot in the class, no problem! He'd make sure of it.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own this.

Ch. 4

There were approximately two months left in school before the summer break and Sasuke found himself watching something he'd never thought he'd see. The pink haired girl was beating the crap out of the blonde haired girl. Sasuke frowned. When had the pink haired girl gotten so good? The last he had seen of her she'd been awful in taijutsu and only doing so well because of her ginourmous brain. And wasn't she supposed to be best friends with the blonde? Sasuke frowned again. What was the blonde's name again? He knew by know he should have leaned the names' of his classmates, but he hadn't. They were, after all, Namikaze followers and as such not worth his time. Sasuke sighed. He desperately wanted friends, but he didn't want the Namikaze's leftovers. Then a brilliant thought occurred to Sasuke like a light bulb turning on in his brain. What if he stole all of the Namikaze's friends and made them his? He'd have to start with learning their names, though.

"Let's go Ino! Don't let Sakura steamroll you!" Naruto cheered with a fist pump. Sasuke grinned. He was already on his way! So, the blonde's name was Ino and the pink haired one was Sakura. He really should have known that by now. Oops. Well, now he did, so it didn't really matter, right? He knew almost everyone else's name anyways. Well, anyone who was important. Now that Sasuke thought about it he only really knew Naruto's name, bug boy's name (Shino), and the annoying purple haired girl who was always complaining (Ami). Sasuke frowned. Oops. Well, it was kind of too late to fix that now. No, if he wanted these people to be friends with him instead of Naruto he'd have to learn their names starting now. Sasuke turned back to the fight just in time to see Sakura win the fight. He stared. How had she done it?

Naruto grinned and shouted, "Nice job Sakura!"

A blush colored Sakura's face and she turned to smile at Naruto.

"You really think so?" Sakura asked uncertainly.

Naruto gave her his trade mark smile and a thumb up, "Of course!"

Sasuke snorted. If Sasuke ever wanted to prove loudness was hereditary Naruto would be the perfect case sample. His mother Namikaze Kushina was just as loud and obnoxious as him. It was said that you could hear her all the way in Suna and Sasuke didn't doubt it.

He tuned back into their conversation just in time to hear Sakura tell Naruto, "You know it's all really because of you! I'd never have started taking this seriously otherwise," Another blush painted Sakura's face before she continued in a softer tone, so Sasuke had to strain to hear, "You really helped me you know."

She smiled softly at Naruto who grinned back. Sasuke frowned deeper. How had Naruto helped Sakura? It didn't make any sense to him. Narrowing his eyes Sasuke pulled himself up and decided it was time to confront Naruto about this. He should be the one helping people and gaining their respect and admiration, not Naruto!

"How did you help Sakura?" he demanded. Naruto looked at him surprised and then a slight smile made its way onto his lips.

"You're talking to me now?" Naruto asked before grinning rapidly at him looking pleased with himself. Sasuke groaned. Ugh, he'd just inflated the blonde's already giant sized ego.

He glared at Naruto before asking again, "How did you help Sakura?"

Naruto grinned yet again before dragging Sasuke away from the others to talk somewhere private. It wasn't really that hard to do. Of course that was only probably due to the fact that Yakumi-sensei was busy being interrogated by that brown haired boy. Sasuke frowned and scowled. He didn't want to ask the blonde what the boy's name was, but he supposed he'd have to if he wanted his plan to work.

"What's his name?" Sasuke asked while pointing at the boy. Naruto turned around and followed Sasuke's finger to the boy.

He nodded before saying, "Kōta. Shouldn't you know his name by now?"

Naruto was now frowning slightly while looking at Sasuke. Sasuke merely shrugged, but he found a blush coming to his cheeks. He turned again to look at the boy, Kōta. Sasuke almost pitied Yakumi-sensei. Kōta was absolutely obsessed with anything pertaining to the Uchiha and had been driving poor Yakumi- sensei crazy with all his questions throughout the year. During this time Naruto had gotten far ahead of Sasuke.

He now looked back at Sasuke and questioned with a wide grin, "Don't you want your question answered?"

Sasuke nodded and quickly followed the blonde. They found themselves soon enough on the roof of the academy. Naruto was looking surprisingly serious.

Solemnly he asked, "Do you know how Sakura and Ino became friends?" Sasuke thought deeply. He vaguely recalled some story about picking flowers and a hair ribbon.

"Kind of," he finally answered. Naruto nodded and seriously looked over Sasuke.

"So you know that Sakura has some self- esteem issues when it comes to her forehead?" he asked. Sasuke hadn't, but he nodded anyways. He wasn't going to let Naruto know he didn't know!

Naruto continued with an almost embarrassed look on his face, "Well, she and Ino got in a fight a couple months ago," he ruffled his hair as a light red blush appeared onto his face, "Do you remember?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he tried to remember blondie and pinkie getting into a fight. He sighed and then slowly he remembered. He glowered. The fight had been over Naruto. They had both declared their undying love for him and ended their friendship abruptly. Sasuke recalled being extremely jealous of Naruto. No, not jealous. Sasuke was never jealous. A slight pout appeared on Sasuke's face. So, maybe he had been a little jealous, but just a little.

"Yeah I remember," he finally told Naruto with the pout still evident on his lips.

Naruto relaxed before responding, "Good. Well, after I heard about this, well," Naruto paused for a moment, "Well, I kind of told them that I couldn't respect people who gave up their friends. You know the whole people who ditch their friends are worse than trash thing?" Naruto asked. Sasuke didn't, not really, but he nodded anyways.

Naruto grinned before continuing, "Well, anyways it turned out that Sakura really didn't have a crush on me. It was just that it was normal to and she just wanted to have something to um, compete, yeah, compete for against Ino. Haha! Apparently I'm a hot commodity!"

He looked over at Sasuke with a grin as if expecting him to laugh with him, but Sasuke merely stared back at him. Naruto didn't even look phased, though, and merely continued.

"Well, yeah. So, I told them that they should compete to be the better ninja. I guess Sakura just really took that to heart!" Another grin passed on Naruto's face and Sasuke couldn't help wondering why his face didn't get stuck like that.

"Well, that's it. You know, the end of the story." Naruto got up and then put his hand out to help Sasuke up. Sasuke stared at it before grudgingly picking it up. Naruto looked beyond pleased. He almost looked smug. Sasuke glared.

"This doesn't mean we're friends," Sasuke grumbled, "I'm going to beat you, no matter what! I swear it!"

He glared at Naruto before walking back to class leaving a dumbfounded Naruto to stare at his retreating back.

XXX XXX XXX

Sasuke was making great progress in learning everyone's name. Two weeks had passed and he almost had every clan kids name down. The rude boy with the tattoos was Inuzuka Kiba, the fat boy or big boned as the boy liked to say was Chōji (Sasuke still didn't know his last name), and the lazy boy was Nara Shikamaru. Sasuke was pretty sure that the girl who Yukimi- sensei and Naruto were constantly working with to open up was a Hyuuga named Hinata. She hardly spoke to anybody and there were rumors that she'd been involved in the cloud incident a couple years ago. Sasuke had no idea if it was true or not and hardly knew what the cloud incident was anyways. He was having a lot more trouble with the non clan kids though. Sure he knew Ami, and Kōta, but he couldn't even tell the difference between Ami's followers. He knew their names were Fuki and Kasumi, but he didn't know which was which. So all in all he knew thirteen names including his. Sasuke growled. It wasn't good enough! There were twenty seven people in the class, so Sasuke knew less than half! He knew all the clan kids' names though which was good. The clan kids were more important and a whole lot more skillful than the clanless. The only clan kids in the bottom half of the class were the Nara, Chōji, and Inuzuka, but Sasuke had a funny feeling they just didn't care to try enough.

In fact, Sasuke was having trouble keeping his spot as second in the class. All he could learn was what the academy had to offer, while the clan kids had family techniques. Aburame Shino or bug boy as he was dubbed in Sasuke's head was fast catching up and Ino Yamanaka (blondie), now that she was actually trying, was a force to be reckoned with. It wasn't fair! During the summer they'd have their clan to help them, but Sasuke wouldn't. He wouldn't be able to keep up. When school started again he'd be right back where he first started, smack dab in the middle of the pack. Sasuke groaned. What could he do?

As he walked outside for break Sasuke thought long and hard. What to do? He thought about asking Yukimi-sensei for help, but then remembered that that wasn't allowed. Sasuke frowned. Maybe senseis weren't allowed to help students during the summer because they wanted the clanless to fall behind. Sasuke's eyes widened. There weren't that many clanless ninjas. Were the higher up's purposely sabotaging the clanless? Sasuke wouldn't be surprised. They were ninja after all. He wasn't going to fail! No way! Just because he didn't have a clan didn't mean he wasn't just as good!

Deep in his thoughts Sasuke accidentally walked into Naruto who looked surprised before grinning. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the boy. It seemed he still didn't understand that Sasuke didn't want to be friends with him. Naruto being the great awesome son of the Yondaime could not possibly comprehend someone not wanting to be friends with his awesomeness Sasuke thought almost bitterly.

"Hey Sasuke! Want to play?" the blonde asked happily. Sasuke slowly nodded. The adrenaline might help him think after all. And well, Sasuke liked the other kids besides Naruto and sometimes Kiba. Kiba thought he was so cool, being from a clan, and talked nonstop about the super awesome dog he'd be getting. But Sasuke liked the other kids. He wanted friends. In fact, he desperately wanted friends, just not the Namikaze's friends. Unfortunately, it seemed everyone was friends with the Namikaze.

XXX XXX XXX

It didn't take long just a couple days, but soon Sasuke had an answer to his summer problem. Now he'd just have to get the other kids to agree to it. That day he walked into school with a bounce in his step. His plan was brilliant. Of course the other kids would agree with it! During break he decided he would fly his plan by them.

"So, if we all meet over summer every day we can help each other become better ninja!" Sasuke concluded. He slowly looked around. Kōta was grinning and his eyes were shining with excitement. That wasn't really surprising though as everything excited Kōta. He looked at the other kids. They all looked interested and maybe even excited.

Suddenly Naruto stood up with a grin and said, "That sounds brilliant, Sasuke!"

Sasuke frowned slightly at Naruto. He didn't need his endorsement, but it definitely helped. Soon everyone was proclaiming what a good idea it was even Ami.

"Humph. We don't need clanless losers to teach us how to be ninja. Hell, the clanless shouldn't even be allowed to come unless they can teach us something. This is about becoming better, right? What can the clanless teach us? They'll just be deadweight," Kiba suddenly said with a superior look appearing on his face. Shino Aburame slowly nodded.

"I agree. Kiba may have not said it eloquently, but unless you can teach something you shouldn't be allowed to come," Shino said. Slowly the other clan kids started to nod. It made sense after all. If you couldn't teach anything you shouldn't come. Ami looked furious.

She shouted, "What do you mean only the clan kids should be included? We're just as good as you! You clan kids aren't any better no matter what you think!"

She looked like she was going to cry. It was the first time Sasuke ever found himself in complete agreement with Ami. He almost hoped it was the last. In less than five minutes it looked like a fight was going to break out between the clanless and the clan kids. Naruto was busy trying to get everyone to get along, but was failing miserably. If Sasuke wasn't about to get in a fight he probably would have been gloating. Right before the fight could begin, though, Yakumi-sensei came outside. When he saw what was going on he immediately broke it up. Now they were all sitting in the classroom being fiercely glared at by their sensei.

"What was going on out there? Shikamaru explain." Sensei commanded. Shikamaru glanced up at their sensei before sighing and muttering something that sounded like troublesome.

"Eh someone suggested that we meet every day over the summer and teach each other ninja moves, so we'd all get better. Kiba mentioned that if you had nothing to teach you shouldn't come," Shikamaru shrugged before continuing, "Some people took offense at that and it turned into the clan kids against the clanless kids."

Yakumi-sensei's eyes narrowed before he nodded. He looked around the room before saying, "Thank you Shikamaru. Now, whose idea was this?"

Sasuke gulped and lowered his head. The other children glanced at each other before pointing at Sasuke. Their teachers eyebrows rose, but he said nothing. Instead he glanced around the room. Finally he said, "It's a good idea, but Kiba's right. If you don't have anything to teach you shouldn't go."

Their sensei shrugged, but Sasuke found his mouth hanging wide open. He couldn't believe their sensei. There was no way Sasuke would be able to go to the session then. He'd have nothing at all to teach. He scowled. The clan kids would get more and more ahead while the clanless fell farther and farther behind. He wasn't really surprised to see Sakura take the side of the clan kids. Ino would probably teach her enough so she could get entry to the sessions. It had been Sasuke's idea and he wouldn't even be allowed to go! Instead that stupid Namikaze was taking control of it. Soon everyone would even forget it had been Sasuke's idea and the blonde would get all the credit. Sasuke fiercely scowled at the clan kids, Naruto, and Yakumi-sensei. No, not Yakumi-sensei just Yakumi. He didn't deserve to be called Sensei.

As they filed out of class that day Sasuke heard a clanless kid mutter, "Of course sensei agrees with them. He's from a clan too."

The kid had a fierce scowl on his face. Sasuke privately agreed. Yakumi as an Uchiha had probably never struggled one day in his life. He had no idea what it was like to be an orphan or even clanless. Right then and there Sasuke envied their sensei more than anything in the world. He'd give anything to belong to a clan especially the Uchiha.

XXX XXX XXX

There were two weeks left in the academy before the summer break and still Sasuke had no idea what he could possibly teach the other kids to get entry into the summer sessions. He'd thought about asking the Sandaime for help, but his pride wouldn't let him. There was no way he'd let that old man know that the blonde was beating him again. He glared at the floor. There was only two weeks left. Sasuke sighed and slowly glanced around the classroom. Everything was almost back to normal. Clanless kids were again sitting with clan kids. For awhile one side of the room had been clanless kids and the other clan kids. The segregation had been almost unbearable and the tension extremely high.

Five clanless kids had beaten up Kiba a few days after the almost fight for running his mouth again. Kiba just didn't know when to shut up. It hadn't been safe to be alone after that. There had been a constant fear of being ambushed by the other group and no one wanted to be by themselves. Sasuke found himself spending an inordinate amount of time with Ami who told him she was protecting him. Sasuke knew it was because she really wanted his protection. No one would mess with the number two in the class after all. The only good thing to come out of Kiba being beat up, Sasuke thought rather bitterly, was that he was a whole lot quieter. Sasuke knew it wouldn't last long, but it was still nice while it did. By now however it had calmed down and the segregation was finally over. However, Sasuke still had nothing that would allow him access the summer sessions. Sasuke frowned again and glared angrily at his desk.

XXX XXX XXX

Similarly Uchiha Fugaku was having problems as well. He wanted to help Sasuke by teaching him, but he couldn't possibly teach him the Uchiha taijutsu style. But Fugaku wasn't an Uchiha for nothing. He knew plenty of other styles thanks to his eyes, but none of them seemed to fit Sasuke. Sasuke, after all, had the build of an Uchiha. He needed a style that depended on speed, but the best one would be the Uchiha style. Fugaku didn't want to teach him a subpar taijutsu style. So he wouldn't teach Sasuke taijutsu and definitely no genjutsu. Sasuke had no control over his chakra. That was it! He'd start Sasuke with chakra control exercises until he had perfect control. Fugaku grinned before he sighed. Where could he possibly teach Sasuke where no one could see? And what would he tell the boy? Would Sasuke even want him to teach him? Fugaku frowned. What would he teach him after he mastered the chakra control exercises anyway? He could feel a headache coming on.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own this.

Ch. 5

As Uchiha Fugaku suffered from a mild migraine so did one Namikaze Naruto. It was after all rather hard to organize a group of young Shinobi to be into a summer program. They had to decide what could be shared and what couldn't such as family techniques and etc. Frankly it was just aggravating. But Naruto wouldn't let it get to him! Instead, he began to whistle as he walked home from the academy. Of course he had to stop every once in a while to say hi to the various shop keepers or accept the cookie the lady offered him.

So, Namikaze continued his walk home with cookie in hand grinning and whistling all the way. That is until he caught sight of Sasuke. And boy was Sasuke scowling up a storm. Naruto frowned slightly and then glanced at his wonderful beautiful cookie then back at Sasuke. Finally making a decision he ran up to Sasuke grin firmly in place.

"Yo! Sasuke ne, you shouldn't frown so much!" Naruto said with a laugh. Sasuke slowly turned to look around and upon seeing who it was his scowl deepened into a full blown glare. Naruto for his part laughed uneasily. After all Sasuke couldn't hate him that much, right?

Naruto finally laughed and said, "Eh, here have my cookie! It's really good you know! Maybe it'll make you happier!"

Sasuke looked shocked. Slowly he took the cookie and looked it up and down as if looking for poison. Naruto merely grinned and rubbed the back of his head in a nervous gesture. Wasn't Sasuke going to take it? Eventually Sasuke looked back up at Naruto scowl firmly in place and said, "No thanks. I don't like sweet things."

He then proceeded to throw the greatest cookie ever out and walk away leaving a dumbfounded Naruto behind.

But before he left Sasuke remembered to say the customary, "By the way we're still not friends."

Naruto scowled. How dare he throw out the greatest cookie ever? Who could possibly not like sweet things? Oh wait, yeah Sasuke. Naruto scowled some more and with a frown firmly in place much like the one Sasuke had worn continued the walk home.

"Ka- san! I'm home!" he screamed. Uzumaki Kushina raised her eyebrow slightly in consternation from the upstairs. Sometimes she wished her dear son could have taken after Minato a little more in the loudness section. With a huff she slowly walked down to the kitchen where Naruto sat wolfing down food with a scowl firmly in place.

She raised another eyebrow as she heard him mutter, "Stupid Sasuke! Throwing out one of the greatest cookies ever!"

Kushina froze for a second at the name. Sasuke as in Sasuke Uchiha; the jinchuriku? Kushina glanced at her son for a moment before shaking her head. He couldn't possibly be talking about that Uchiha, the one who had taken his place as the living sacrifice. It wasn't like she was dumb. She had heard Minato and Fugaku discussing it outside her hospital door. And to think that could have been Naruto. Kushina scowled looking almost like a mirror picture of her son. She didn't like thinking about the Kyuubi attack. It brought back to many painful memories.

In fact, she completely avoided the Uchiha and when anyone tried to gossip about the boy or the Uchiha she rather skillfully changed the subject. She had used to be rather good friends with Mikoto, but now she avoided the woman like a plague. It hurt to think that once upon a time she and Mikoto had thought their sons would be best friends. Now it hurt to even think of Mikoto's younger son, the sacrifice.

Kushina frowned. She'd mastered the art of avoiding everything that brought back bad memories: the Uchiha, the village, and even Naruto. It was actually rather rare for Kushina to even be in the village. Usually she was off on missions outside the village. As a boy Naruto had been largely raised and trained by Kakashi and even Jiraiya when he was in town. Kushina made him act like a proper godfather and actually meet and train Naruto. It didn't stop the guilt that came from knowing she wasn't acting like a proper mother. A mother shouldn't avoid their only child even if he was the spitting image of his deceased father. Kushina sighed some more and glanced at Naruto's scowling face. It was time she stopped avoiding her problems! Just because it hurt didn't mean a thing! She was supposed to be a kunoichi for god's sake! Steeling her resolve Kushina swore that right there and then she'd stop avoiding her son and her used to be best friend Mikoto.

"What's this about a cookie?" she finally asked. Naruto froze for a moment and stared at her. His eyes slowly widened in shock before a grin split his face and he started telling his tale of the bastard Sasuke and the yummiest cookie ever. Halfway through the story Kushina had to interrupt him.

"Sasuke as in Sasuke Uchiha?" she hesitantly asked. Naruto frowned at her slightly before rubbing the back of his head in a nervous gesture. He seemed to be pondering it for a moment.

"No, Sasuke he's an orphan." He finally said, "I guess he kinda looks like an Uchiha except for those weird birthmarks on his face."

Naruto gave his mother a cheeky grin before pretending to put birth marks on his face like Sasuke's.

"Hehe he kinda look like a fox!" Naruto said with glee. But Kushina remained frozen in place. Those marks had to mean the boy was the container. Hell even Naruto thought this Sasuke looked like a fox. But if the boy wasn't an Uchiha had she misunderstood the conversation between Minato and Fugaku? Had she avoided the Uchiha for no reason? What the hell was going on? It was probably beyond time to visit Mikoto and get some answers. She'd avoided this village and her problems for far too long. It was time she actually started paying attention to Naruto again too. Even if it did hurt.

Naruto couldn't believe his luck! His ka- san was finally paying attention to him. She'd spent all afternoon with him and had even promised to start teaching him more family jutsu. Sure having Kakashi to teach him and his god father was great fun, but this was his ka-san they were talking about!

XXX XXX XXX

Two days later Kushina found herself outside the Uchiha clan compound. It wasn't really a clan compound, though, as Uchiha lived all over the village and many non-Uchiha lived inside the compound anyways, but Kushina still thought of it as thus. She carefully walked to Mikoto's house with a heavy heart and knocked on the door. She wondered what Mikoto would say. After all, it had been almost nine years. Slowly the door opened to reveal Mikoto standing there with a pleasant smile on her face. When she saw who it was her face filled with surprise.

"Ku…Kushina?" Mikoto asked in astonishment. Kushina could fill her face turning slightly red before she slowly nodded and asked if she could come in. As she walked in and sat down she could feel Mikoto's eyes burning her. It was obvious the women was pissed.

"No hide or tail of you for the past nine years or so and suddenly you just show up on my door step for no good reason!" Mikoto ranted, "You couldn't even be bothered to stop by and express your condolences? I know you were upset at Minato's death, but that's no excuse! I know that I tried to find you about half a million times! Where were you? If I didn't know better I would have said you were avoiding me!"

At this Kushina blushed a horrible red color that clashed terribly with her red hair. Mikoto froze and slowly with an appraising eye looked her over.

"You have been avoiding me?" Mikoto asked.

At Kushina's slight nod Mikoto frowned even more and carefully asked, "But why?" Kushina wriggled in her chair in discomfort and wouldn't look in Mikoto's eye before slowly deflating.

"Your son. It just brought up bad memories. You know things I wanted to forget." Kushina finally said. Mikoto frowned. She wasn't used to the normally chipper Kushina being so down and quiet. But what did she mean? Was she talking about Itachi? Mikoto waited for Kushina to explain herself, but when it became obvious she wouldn't Mikoto decided she might as well ask.

"What do you mean? Why would Itachi bring back bad memories?" she finally asked.

Kushina laughed a bitter laugh and looked her right in the eye before saying, "Not Itachi, but Sasuke."

Mikoto frowned and suddenly her anger returned.

"What do you mean Sasuke! Sasuke died. You know the night of the fox attack!" Mikoto said mockingly, "How would that bring back bad memories?"

Kushina froze inside. Sasuke had died? But that was impossible. What was going on? What had Minato and Fugaku been discussing? Wasn't Sasuke Uchiha the container?

"But I don't understand. I thought Sasuke was the container?" Kushina questioned. Mikoto stared at her for a moment in absolute shock before the cold look of hatred descended again.

With a sniff and an upward turn of her nose as if in superiority Mikoto said with malice, "Of course you wouldn't know. It's not like you're ever even in this village anyway. It's no wonder your son is constantly playing pranks. A cry for attention I suppose," Mikoto sneered, "The Uchiha helped the fourth seal the Kyuubi and in thanks the fourth or third I'm not really sure which named the container after my son Sasuke who had just died."

Kushina froze. Had Sasuke really died? She frowned at that thought. Of course he had! So the container really wasn't an Uchiha. But still something about this just didn't really add up. What about Minato's conversation with the Uchiha clan head? Maybe they'd just changed the plan? That had to be right. Still she really should look at the container just to make sure. She did owe the boy for saving her own son from the fate of the living sacrifice. For now though, it was time to patch up her friendship with the Uchiha matriarch.

Two hours later a skipping Kushina left the Uchiha residence. It really hadn't been that hard to patch up her friendship with Mikoto. Then again the woman had always been super kind and understanding. Kushina grinned. It was probably the reason she had always forgiven Kushina for her crazy stunts when they were genin. And boy her discussion with Mikoto had been pretty eye opening. She'd spent so long avoiding this village that she had missed all the changes going on in it. There were now Uchihas as jounin instructors, academy instructors, and members of anbu. Ten years ago that would have been unheard of! According to Mikoto the third was even thinking of one day having Itachi replace him. That one had really shocked Kushina. An Uchiha as Hokage! That had been pretty much unheard of when the first or second were around. Oh hell even when Minato was around it would have been unheard of! She grinned lightly. She should probably thank the Sandaime for making her take a vacation (forced leave) to get to know the son and village she'd been avoiding better.

Uchiha Fugaku stared at Uzumaki or Namikaze Kushina's retreating back with a thoughtful expression. The way she had assumed that the container was Sasuke Uchiha was suspicious. Did she know the truth then? Fugaku frowned for a moment before his eyes flashed. He and Minato had been discussing it right outside her room in the hospital! Shit, they'd been practically screaming it. It really wasn't a wonder if she'd heard. But now what should he do? Even if the Namikaze knew the truth there was no way she would agree to teach the boy. But the boy, his son, had taken the place of her own son. It would be just like Kushina to feel she owed a debt to the boy. A debt that he could easily collect by having her teach Sasuke. This would solve all his problems! But did he really want the Namikaze to teach his son? She was skilled enough of course, but the style she used to fight was nothing like the Uchihas and probably wouldn't suit Sasuke at all. Fugaku frowned some more. No, Kushina was not the right teacher for his youngest son. He needed a teacher for Sasuke, but he just couldn't figure out whom. Maybe he could use Kakashi or even Itachi? Itachi had loved his baby brother a lot, after all.

XXX XXX XXX

Far away a young anbu captain stifled a sneeze. Itachi would have frowned, but that would have involved showing emotions, something which he was strongly against, even if it would have been hidden behind his anbu mask of a weasel. Sometimes Itachi wondered what idiot decided to give him the mask of the weasel. Who else would wear the mask except Itachi? Putting such thoughts away he turned back to the matter at hand which was watching the container.

Itachi had loved his little brother with a passion and still missed him to this day. It always brought a bitter taste to his mouth to think that his brother's name had so carelessly been given away to a nobody. If he believed in showing emotion he would have scowled. His father constantly preached about how the container was a hero and yatta yatta. But Itachi just saw him as his little brother's usurper. And watching the boy day and night was just annoying. He had to admit though that the boy's posturing in front of the mirror was slightly amusing and he wasn't an awful ninja either. If Itachi didn't know better he would have said the boy had a photographic memory. Of course that was nonsense or maybe just wishful thinking. Sometimes, after all, Itachi wished the boy would turn into his little brother and so who could really blame him for imagining the boy being slightly Uchiha like. And maybe he felt a little pride when the boy had called him his favorite anbu ever when Itachi had stopped store clerks from kicking the boy out of their shops or over charging him. Itachi always tried to tell himself that he did that because he didn't want the boy to wear the horrendous orange jumpsuit that he had somehow managed to find and not because he liked the boy. It would be ridiculous, after all, for him to like the boy. He was just his brother's usurper. For kami's sake Itachi knew he didn't like the boy. Hell he couldn't even call the boy by his first name, the name he had stolen from Itachi's real brother. Itachi shook his head slightly. No, he didn't like the boy.

With that thought Itachi turned back to watch the scowling container who was apparently complaining to the sky about stupid Namikaze Naruto and summer classes. That scowl kind of looked like an Uchiha scowl, Itachi mused silently, before frowning and dismissing such a ludicrous thought.

The boy, Itachi had learned, needed something to teach the other brats to gain entrance to the group and still had no ideas. Maybe he could teach the boy some things. It would definitely cement his place as the boy's favorite anbu. Itachi had always imagined teaching his little brother all sorts of cool things anyways.

"Damnit the boy wasn't his brother!" Itachi thought outraged. Why couldn't he figure that out? For Kami's sake he didn't even like the boy, this usurper. Why would he even want to be the boy's favorite anbu anyway? No, he didn't like the boy. And no he would definitely not be teaching this boy any of the things he had been planning to teach his brother. After all he didn't like the boy, right?


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own this.

Ch. 6

Sasuke blank-blank, as he had decided he liked that better than no-name, scowled at the evil rock that he had rather carelessly tripped on. It wasn't his fault, not really. He had clearly as anyone could see been distracted by, uhm. What had he been distracted by again? Sasuke wasn't quite sure, but he knew he'd been distracted by something. It was the last day before break and Sasuke was in terrible spirits. No plan had magnificently revealed itself and no strange Anbu that stalked him had taught him awesome ninja moves, cough cough Itachi. Instead, Sasuke was rather bored to death along with being in a foul mood. Hibachi was currently strutting around the playground with an admiring group of clanless watching.

Hibachi proclaimed pretty loudly, "We won't stand for this! We'll go no matter what! Those clan losers can't stop us! We're way better than them anyways," he gave a powerful nod as if to add emphasis before continuing, "We can't let them stop us! No way!"

Other clanless were nodding their heads in agreement, but Sasuke was stifling a yawn. Hibachi, Sasuke had quickly realized, was an even more idiotic Kiba. He was either complaining or bragging and was always surrounded by his so called friends or as Sasuke dubbed them wannabees. He'd never bothered to learn their names, merely referring to them as Hibachi's wanabee 1, 2, and so forth. If they followed that idiot then they weren't worth the effort of learning their names. Hibachi was in Sasuke's opinion an idiot and a coward. Currently he was complaining yet again about the summer sessions that the clanless or at least most of them would not be able to gain entry to. Sasuke didn't understand why Hibachi didn't try to do something about it instead of just talking. He really was an idiot.

Apparently someone else was in agreement because she plopped right down next to Sasuke and whispered into his ear in an annoyed tone, "He's a complete idiot".

Sasuke quickly spun around only to see Ami standing behind him looking at Hibachi in complete disgust. He gave a jerky nod of agreement before looking her over and commenting with a sarcastic tone, "Oh my! Ami without her followers! This is one for the books!"

Ami raised her eyebrows in surprise before snorting and lifting her nose in false contempt, "My followers? Fuki and Kasumi? Them? Hmph, you act like I always have to be with them! Why can't I just hang out with you?"

Ami was now glaring at Sasuke rather fabulously and Sasuke felt himself panicking slightly. He didn't know how to deal with an angry female! Luckily for him Ami's glare quickly turned into a smile before she asked rather pointedly, "I can spend time with you? Can't I?"

Sasuke grinned at her slightly before nodding. For some reason Ami had slowly grown on him throughout the year. Maybe it was because she was so blunt. She never held back her opinion on anyone even when she probably should have. Sure, most of what she said was negative, but Sasuke didn't think she really meant it in a mean way. It was more her observing the world out loud. They had lately bonded over the stupidity of their classmates such as Hibachi and their mutual belief in conspiracies inside the village. One of Ami's more farfetched theories, that Sasuke secretly thought was hilarious, was her idea that the fourth had never really died. Instead he had been deaged and was now growing up again as their very own classmate Naruto. As Sasuke pondered his bizarre relationship with Ami; recently they had run through the town spray painting all the anbu they could find and catch because clearly the anbu were part of some mass conspiracy, he came to the scary conclusion that he and Ami were actually friends, maybe even best friends.

He sat for a moment in shock, blinking slowly, trying to clear his thoughts before he looked up at Ami and blurted out, "We're friends? Aren't we?"

Ami stared at him before giving him a blinding smile quite different from the frown she normally wore, "Of course we are, Sasuke! Glad you can finally admit it!" here she scowled before continuing, "Just took you a while. It's not like we spend every minute at the academy and outside the academy together."

Sasuke grimaced at her clear sarcasm. Now that he thought about it he and Ami really did spend a lot of time together just walking around commenting on the world and hanging out. How had he not noticed? Whenever he wasn't by himself he was with Ami. No wonder he hadn't been able to find a way to get into the summer club. He'd constantly been distracted by being with her! Weren't you supposed to notice when you were becoming friends with someone? Sasuke wouldn't really know as Ami was his first real friend, but shouldn't he have realized before now that they were friends? Now that he thought about it, it had started long before Sasuke had submitted his idea of summer training to the class.

Ami, starting from the first week of the academy, had started training with Sasuke or just talking to him. They lived in the same area and often ended up walking home together. It was no wonder that at the middle of the year she'd been one of the few people whose names he actually knew. And somewhere along the way now that Sasuke really thought about it she'd ditched the followers. By the time the clanless vs. clan spectacle had happened he and Ami were already going on escapades around the village uncovering supposed conspiracies. Ami probably hadn't, as he had cluelessly thought, been hanging around him because he was the second in the class and for protection, but because she really wanted to and because she thought they were friends. That had, after all, been the week they had explored the Hokage's monument inside and out looking for the secret test labs that they were positive existed.

As they sat on the ground in the playground during break Sasuke found himself glancing at Ami. So, it was true they really were friends, maybe even best friends. Even though altogether it'd been a bad day and he still had no way to get into the summer training sessions Sasuke couldn't have felt better. He couldn't contain the grin that he was sure was covering his face as he thought about the fact that he had a real friend! God he probably looked like Kota glowing with excitement, but Sasuke didn't care. He had a friend!

"Hey, Ami! We're not just friends are we? We're best friends, right?" Sasuke asked grin still firmly in place.

Ami stared at him for a moment before laughing, "Of course doofus! I think you're the last one to realize it, too."

Sasuke felt a light blush appearing at her words because thinking back on it she was kind of right. People tended to group Ami and him together. He'd never really noticed, but then he had been so preoccupied with his training. Maybe the training wasn't that important. Not when he was missing out on important things like this. How lame was it that he was the last one to realize of their class that he and Ami were best friends? Sure the academy was pretty big on rankings, but Sasuke had lost himself so much in his training, become so obsessed with it, that life had started to pass him right by without him even realizing. He really was a doofus! Who cared how the stupid blonde was doing? It didn't matter because he had what he had always wanted, a best friend! Someone had finally truly acknowledged him.

He grinned at Ami and whispered quietly, "Maybe that summer training isn't all that important after all. Huh?"

Ami looked conflicted and she flicked her hand through her purple hair in thought before stubbornly saying, "It'd still be cool to go, even if it was only once."

Sasuke stared at her and shook his head before sighing, "Yah. It would still be cool to go at least once."

"Especially since it was your idea to begin with," Ami's face had taken on a hard seriousness and Sasuke gravely nodded in agreement.

That day as Sasuke left school he had a skip in his step. First off they had passed their first year which wasn't actually all that difficult, but whatever. Yakumi-sensei had even praised Sasuke's creative usage of trip wire while creating traps which was another plus. Sasuke had begrudgingly given Yakumi back the sensei on the end of his name. After all, even Sasuke couldn't hold a grudge forever. As he and Ami began the walk back to their respective homes Sasuke thought that life couldn't get much better than this.

That is until a yellow blur almost ran into him going the other direction. Sasuke scowled at Naruto while Ami gave him an annoyed look. Naruto merely grinned, brushed his hair with his hand, and gave an awkward laugh. Ami allowed a small smile to grace her face, but Sasuke's glare just increased.

"Hey, Sasuke, Ami! You guys are just the people I was looking for! Ne, Ne I've been looking all over for you, but you just seemed to disappear!" Naruto said breathlessly.

Sasuke for his part gave Naruto an incredulous look. He'd been looking for them? Why? Ami on the other hand looked pleased to hear that the prized Namikaze had been looking for her.

Naruto continued, "Yah Yah! I wanted to go over some stuff with you Sasuke, and my ka-san really wanted to meet you," here Naruto pouted before continuing, "Course you can come to Ami!"

Naruto was again wearing a shit eating grin and Sasuke could feel his eyebrows rising in surprise. Naruto wanted Sasuke to come to his house? Why?

"We're not friends," he told Naruto rather harshly. Ami gave him a vaguely annoyed face before glancing at Naruto's devastated face.

"But that doesn't mean we don't want to be friends with you, Naruto! Of course we'll come!" Ami said in a strange cheerful voice that did not sound anything like her own. She gave Sasuke a look that clearly said don't you dare disagree. Sasuke's shoulders slumped before he looked at Naruto and told him of course they'd be happy to go with him. Naruto's whole face perked up. Sasuke scowled.

As they were walking towards the Namikaze's house Sasuke angrily whispered into Ami's ear, "Why are we going along with this?"

"Oh, relax! Think of all the awesome things his house might hold: secret scrolls, jutsu, hidden secrets, conspiracies! Don't you want to see that?" Ami argued before her voice lowered and she whispered solemnly, "Also, this is our perfect chance to get access to at least one of those summer sessions. Naruto's the best in our class. All we have to do is have him teach us something to get in. It'll be a breeze!" Sasuke didn't agree. He didn't want to learn anything from Naruto. This was probably just a waste of time.

At the same time Naruto had been animating their conversation with talks of his house, his mom, jutsu, the academy, whatever he seemed to think of at the moment. As long as Sasuke nodded and allowed Ami to comment every once in a while he didn't even really have to listen to the blonde's rants.

"And then the crazy lady chased me with a kunai! She almost hit me too! It's not like I meant to eat her dango." Naruto grumbled as they finally arrived at the Namikaze household. It was a nice house Sasuke noticed. It had two floors and a training ground in back. It was much nicer than his own apartment. Sasuke's dark mood increased.

"Ka-san! We're home!" Naruto shouted as they walked through the door and began removing their shoes.

When Namikaze Kushina formerly Uzumaki walked downstairs Sasuke wasn't sure what to expect. A part of him thought she would be just like Naruto, talking a mile a minute. However, he'd been sorely disappointed. Upon walking downstairs she had frozen. A pale look had immediately crossed her face and she had stood transfixed staring at Sasuke. Sasuke frowned. Maybe he should just leave. He shouldn't have come in the first place, anyways. Clearly he wasn't wanted here. He was used to people looking at him funny anyways, either that or not looking at him at all. He wasn't sure which was worse. Maybe he should just go.

"Ka-san?" Naruto asked questioningly, "Are you okay?" That seemed to snap her right out of it as she quickly shook her head before affirming that of course she was okay and ruffling Naruto's bright blond hair.

"You must be Sasuke! And you must be Ami! It's so nice to meet you!" She smiled encouragingly at them before herding them into the kitchen for an afternoon snack. Sasuke found, surprisingly, that he did like Naruto's ka-san. She didn't talk too much, well at least not as much as Naruto and she seemed genuinely pleased to meet them which Sasuke found a bit suspicious after her earlier shock upon meeting them.

Ami seemed to have fallen in love with Kushina. She hurled her with questions about being a kunoichi, the fourth, whirlpool, and anything she could think up. The women had clearly become her new role model. Kushina seemed embarrassed by all her attention and also faintly pleased. Sasuke thought Ami was a suck up. He told her so. She stuck her tongue out at him and Kushina laughing at their antics shooed them outside. As they settled down outside, though, Sasuke couldn't stop the prickly feeling of being watched. He glanced back at the house only to see Kushina hidden in a window staring at him with a grave expression on her face. He scowled.

Naruto grinned at them both before telling Sasuke he'd invited him here so they could plan their lessons for the summer. Sasuke stared at him blankly.

"Wait what?" Sasuke asked in confusion. He looked at Ami for support, but a mischievous look had begun to cover her face. She knew what was going on, Sasuke thought annoyed. Naruto looked perplexed.

"For the summer training! You know your idea. I thought we should go over how we are gonna run it. Or how you are going to run it, as it is your idea," Naruto told him before continuing earnestly, "Of course I really wanna help too! Maybe we could like co-run it or something!" Naruto looked over at Sasuke for confirmation, but Sasuke felt shocked. He was supposed to be running the summer training? But he had no idea what to teach. He could feel panic slipping in. Oh no! What was he supposed to do? Again he looked at Ami for support, but she was looking pleased beyond belief and didn't even notice his panic stricken face.

"Um, yah! That sounds like a perfect idea. Um, how about we, um, just make up a schedule and have people sign up for a day they want to teach a cool move or something. You have to, um, sign up for a day if you want to be part of the class. How's that?" Sasuke asked nervously. Naruto looked pleased and happily agreed. Sasuke found himself secretly relieved. He'd just sign up for one of the later days and by then he'd hopefully have something to teach.

Ami and Sasuke stayed at Naruto's for a while longer playing games before they had to leave. As they walked out Sasuke had to admit that Naruto wasn't as bad as he once thought.

That is until Naruto shouted, "You'll take the first day? Right, Sasuke? As it was your idea. I'll take the second so people have plenty of time to sign up!" He then waved good bye. Sasuke felt himself panicking again and turned to Ami with fear. She merely laughed.

"Relax Sasuke. You're the second in our class. I'm sure you can pull something out of your butt," Ami told him. She didn't seem concerned for his fate. Instead she began talking about how great Kushina-san had been and how she wanted to be just like her when she grew up. Sasuke groaned and muttered something about uncaring supposed friends. Ami happily ignored him and continued relating how she was so going to die her hair the same color orange as Kushina's. Eventually they parted ways with Ami still spouting about Kushina and Sasuke mumbling darkly to himself.

The next day Sasuke decided to go find a big empty field as it was more likely the Anbu would come out if no one else was around. Sasuke had little faith in his plan as it would involve both the elusive Anbu coming out into the open and then such elusive Anbu agreeing to teach him an awesome cool secret Anbu move. It probably hadn't helped that he had been antagonizing the Anbu as of late with Ami's help of course. He frowned and waited in the field silently. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only a couple minutes Sasuke saw a dark figure walking towards the hill. His heart rose in elation! This was his chance. Excitement coursed through Sasuke's veins, only to turn into extreme disappointment. It wasn't an Anbu!

"What are you doing here?' Sasuke asked his disappointment clearly shining through. Shikamaru gave Sasuke a bored look before lifting his head to the sky. He then settled down to cloud gaze. Sasuke glowered.

He told Shikamaru angrily, "You were supposed to be an Anbu!" Shikamaru's eyebrows rose slightly and he glanced at Sasuke in clear surprise.

"An Anbu?" he asked softly before closing his eyes and turning away. Sasuke stared at him and thought about kicking him in the side.

He informed Shikamaru grumpily, "I thought you were one of the Anbu who stalks me. An Anbu could've taught me awesome moves". He gave Shikamaru a disgusted look so Shikamaru would be aware of just how much he lacked when compared to said Anbu.

Shikamaru was confused. He hated being confused. An Anbu stalked Sasuke? Weird. And why? Ugh, now it would bug him. And why did Sasuke want to meet with him? It was something about awesome moves.

He gave Sasuke another bored look before commenting dryly, "You don't have anything to teach, do you?" Sasuke looked ready to make a fierce denial, so Shikamaru raised his hand to stop him.

"Hmm, just teach everyone a chakra control exercise. They're simple. For one of them all you have to do is float a leaf on your face with chakra. We're going to learn it next year anyways. Might as well teach it early," the Nara said while shrugging lightly. Sasuke stared at him for a moment before running off with a fierce look of determination. If Shikamaru were a betting person he would have said Sasuke was off to go float some leaves on his face. Instead he sighed and turned back to looking at the clouds with a bored expression on his face.

Sasuke was nervous. Today he was going to teach everyone the chakra control exercise. At least he was supposed to. But, Sasuke had never mastered it himself! His chakra would randomly flair up and the next thing he knew the leaf was long gone. It was supposed to be easy, damnit! But Sasuke couldn't seem to do it for the life of him! His stupid chakra! Why the hell wouldn't it cooperate? He scowled fiercely at the sky. There had to be something he could do. For a second he had contemplated asking the hokage's help or even Naruto's, but his pride wouldn't let him. No way was he going to admit defeat especially not to that blonde idiot.

As Sasuke scowled his way through the village Itachi watched in boredom. He had seen the boy try to master the chakra exercise and fail every time. At first the boy's attempts had been entertaining especially the excessive swearing that inevitably followed every failure, but by now it was just pathetic. There was no way he was an Uchiha now. Uchiha's half his age could do the grand fireball technique without problem and he couldn't even balance a leaf on his nose. Itachi sniffed superiorly. Of course the boy couldn't have been an Uchiha anyways, but this just proved it. What a waste of space this Sasuke was. Itachi was sure his little brother would have been able to do the grand fireball technique by now and much more.

Itachi was distracted by the boy cursing again. A purple haired female was accompanying him now and was laughing at his clear distress. She led him about the village clearly trying to cheer him up, but the boy was stuck in a melancholy mood. Itachi glanced at the boy. He hadn't really given him a chance, just because he was bad at the leaf exercise didn't mean he was bad at all jutsu. He could still prove himself worthy of Itachi's little brother's name. Maybe Itachi could give him a test. A possible way to prove beyond all doubt that he wasn't just his brother's usurper, that he deserved his name. After cementing in his mind a plan to make such a test possible Itachi continued stalking the boy and female waiting for the perfect opportunity. When it appeared he jumped off the building, grabbed the boy, and took off with him at a run. The purple girl shrieked and tried to give chase, but Itachi paid her no mind. He quickly outran her until she was just a dot in the distance.

"If this is about the investigations we did, I'm really, really sorry! We didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Please don't kill me!" Sasuke shouted at him desperately. Itachi ignored him and continued running until they reached a secluded training ground in the village. There he put the boy down and a scroll down. Sasuke immediately prepared himself for a fight that he knew would be lopsided.

Unfortunately his opponent just stared at him for a while before finally telling him in a monotone voice, "I have decided to test your potential to see if you are worthy. Do not fail." And then he abruptly disappeared. Sasuke could feel his heart beating and fear overwhelming him. What was going on? Was the Anbu going to kill him? He'd always gotten on pretty well with the silent weasel Anbu. What had happened?

A voice that came from nowhere and everywhere told him, "You will have one hour to learn a technique from that scroll before you. Prove yourself worthy." Then the voice disappeared and Sasuke wondered what the consequences would be if he didn't master one of the techniques from the scroll in the hour. He gulped before shaking his head to clear the thought and stared desperately at the scroll in front of him. He opened it with shaking fingers only to stare at it in shock and dismay upon seeing its contents. The directions were in a different language! Even if the directions were in the right language Sasuke doubted he could learn one of these advanced jutsus or taijutsu moves in an hour He quickly scrolled through it hoping to find even one technique in the correct language. As he got farther and farther into the scroll with no technique showing up Sasuke could feel his panic beginning to well up. What was he supposed to do? As he continued in the scroll looking at all the impossible techniques Sasuke was filled with questions. How was he supposed to do a crow clone jutsu? The directions were clearly listed, but he couldn't read the strange language!

"Yes!" Sasuke shrieked with elation. There was finally a technique where the directions were in a language Sasuke could understand. It was called the grand fireball technique and as Sasuke looked at the directions it definitely seemed possible for him to master. He sat down to read the directions and fiercely began practicing.

Itachi was shocked. He had not expected to find a beaming Sasuke, bruised up and weary, but with an impressive grand fire ball technique one hour later. The boy had succeeded beyond belief. If he were an Uchiha this would have been his coming of age moment. Itachi stared at the boy some more. He kind of looked like an Uchiha with his pale face and dark hair and eyes, Itachi mused, before dismissing the ridiculous thought. Either way the boy had proven himself worthy. Still he wasn't quite worthy of Itachi's little brother's name yet, but at least now Itachi could be assured that the boy wouldn't be shaming it. Yes, clearly this jaunt had been a success.

Sasuke stared at the Anbu wearily before announcing, "You did this on purpose, didn't you? So I'd be properly motivated, so I'd have something to teach the other kids! Thanks! You really are my favorite Anbu!" Itachi shrugged. If that was what the kid wanted to believe then that was fine. Itachi would know the truth. If only he could ignore the warm fuzzy feeling growing in his chest at the boy's words. Why should he care if the boy liked him? If he was the boy's favorite? The kid wasn't anyone special! No way. It was, Itachi decided, time for him to leave before he tried to convince himself for the billionth time that the kid was an Uchiha when he clearly wasn't. Yes, that's exactly what he would do.

Sasuke stared off at the Anbu's retreating back with eyes filled with admiration before heading back to the center of Konoha. He, after all, had a lesson to teach today and there was no way he was going to miss it!

After finding and calming down a disgruntled and scared Ami they both headed off towards the training ground Naruto had gotten special permission to use. Sasuke, however, refused to tell her exactly what had happened. He wanted to surprise everyone even her with his awesome new jutsu. That didn't stop her from prying, though.

"You're in on the conspiracy now, aren't you? Sasuke, tell me!" she sniffed unhappily. "If I was the one who the Anbu informed of their plans I would tell you about it," here she gave Sasuke a pleading look which he ignored, "Hmph. Fine! Be that way. I'll get it out of you soon enough, anyways!" she promised. They continued the rest of their walk in silence with Ami shooting Sasuke the occasional glare.

As they approached the training ground Naruto shouted out, "What took you so long? We were beginning to think you were a no show!" Kiba grumbled in the background about how annoying Sasuke was, but Sasuke was too elated to bother glaring back. He, instead, looked around at all the people. It looked like anyone who was anybody from their grade had shown up even Hibachi. He probably thought he could get away with at least getting in the first few lessons before anyone called him on the fact that he had nothing to teach. There was no one from outside their grade, but that wasn't really surprising. They were the youngest grade and who would want to learn from kids younger than them?

Looking around Sasuke noted that Shikamaru was there with his hands in his pockets. He'd probably been dragged here by Chouji. Ino and Sakura had of course shown up together. Bug boy hid in the back ground observing while Kiba loudly talked about how Sasuke probably had nothing good to teach them. Ami loudly shushed him, but Sasuke didn't notice. He was too busy staring at the shy Hyuuga who looked like she wasn't quite sure if she should be here. He was really surprised Hinata had shown up. He hadn't thought she would come at all. Naruto had probably convinced her. Fuki was there, but Kasumi was noticeably missing. He vaguely wondered why before dismissing the matter from his mind. It didn't really matter anyways. It was time to call this lesson to order.

He began by explaining the schedule system. Everyone would sign up for one day and they would go from there. Sasuke then reminded them that if they had nothing to teach they were better off just leaving right now. Ami gave him a dirty look which Sasuke pretended not to see and Hibachi's chest puffed up in false bravado. He probably believed the false show of confidence would convince everyone he had something to teach. Kota looked nervous and vaguely nauseous. He probably wasn't really cut out to be a ninja.

Hinata in the corner looked petrified of the idea of having to stand up in front of everyone and give a lesson. In direct contrast Ino and Sakura were arguing over who would give the better lesson their voices high like banshees. Sasuke was vaguely surprised that Kiba didn't attempt to join their fight, but he was preoccupied trying to get Shino to show some sort of facial expression. Shikamaru was sleeping on the ground and Chouji was complaining about the lack of food. Fuki was attempting to flirt with Naruto, but Naruto was too busy going around with the signup sheet for the days to really notice. Sasuke sighed. This was going to be a long summer.

"All right! Pay attention now. I'm going to start with a demonstration!"Sasuke yelled over the class.

Once he had everyone's attention he loudly yelled, "Fire release: Grand fireball Jutsu!" A huge fireball ripped out of Sasuke's mouth and scorched a path down over the lake where it wouldn't light anything on fire. The response was immediate. There were oohs and ahhs everywhere. Everyone was telling Sasuke that it was so cool he could do that and that they totally wanted to learn.

Ami stared at him for a minute before winking and whispering to him, "Told you, you would pull something out of your butt". She looked faintly pleased with him and Sasuke smiled back. Naruto then ran up to him eyes ablaze telling him how amazing it had been. Sasuke could feel himself beginning to blush before frowning. What the blonde said didn't matter! He glared at Naruto. But it was what Kota said next that really threw him.

"Wow! How'd you learn that Sasuke? It's so cool! That's the jutsu the Uchiha use for their coming of age test! Once you can do that jutsu you're considered a man in their clan! How'd you learn it? You should show Yakumi-sensei!" Kota blurted out enthusiastically. Sasuke blinked. Wait, what? He hadn't known that at all. Of course he didn't stalk the Uchiha quite like Kota did in the first place, but still the Uchiha coming of age test? What the hell? The Anbu said he had been testing his potential, right? So, the weasel Anbu must be an Uchiha. Weird. He'd always kind of imagined the Anbu with blonde hair and green eyes for some reason, but clearly that didn't fit anymore. Stupid Anbu, had to be an Uchiha, and ruin Sasuke's mental picture of him.

Sasuke shook his head at the thought before continuing the lesson by going through the hand positions and exactly how one went about converting their chakra to fire. By the end of the time, though, Sasuke felt very frustrated. No one had gotten it! Naruto had come close once with a feeble fire ball. He didn't seem to upset that he hadn't mastered it as he knew he was wind natured like his dad. After hearing this Ami had given Sasuke a knowing look. Sasuke already knew that this little detail had been added to the growing list of evidence that incriminated Naruto as actually being the Yondaime. He rolled his eyes at Ami.

Everyone else was getting pretty upset by this time too. Kiba was cursing and even Shino was openly glaring at anyone who dared invade his personal space. The lesson was wrapping up and Naruto was beginning to notice the disappointed faces. He couldn't let the first lesson end with such disappointment!

"Yo! You guys relax! This is like way above our level! It's amazing we can even get it a little. We won't even begin learning stuff like this until we're genin. Sasuke only learned because of extensive training. He just thought it'd be something cool to show on the first day! You know?" Naruto told the group. Sasuke's eye twitched. Extensive training? What extensive training? Before he could say anything Ami's hand lightly touched his shoulder and she shook her head. He stared at her. Why had she stopped him? As the group left in much better spirits with Hibachi pompously telling everyone what a show off Sasuke was Sasuke turned to question Ami.

However, Ami beat him to the punch line and told him in an annoyed tone, "Oh relax Sasuke! Naruto was just trying to make everyone feel better. He didn't want everyone to go home on the first day unhappy and disappointed. And you were a bit of a show off". Sasuke pouted at her, but she resolutely ignored it.

By this time he, Ami, and the blonde were the only ones still left at the training ground and so all three began to walk back to Konoha. This inevitably led to Naruto inviting the three of them back to his house for dinner. Sasuke had sent a pleading look at Ami, but she had coldly ignored it and had of course happily accepted the invitation. She had wanted to see Kushina again and if Sasuke had to be sacrificed to do it then so be it. As they walked into the Namikaze's house, as Sasuke had failed at creating an appropriate plan for escaping and was now stuck with the blonde and family for dinner, Naruto and Ami chatted happily and Sasuke mumbled incoherently. So, started an eventful summer.

Everyday the group would meet up at the training ground and someone new would teach the group something. Some lessons were interesting, some boring, and some weird. Naruto taught everyone how to manipulate kunai with wire which was really cool. But then the next day Ino attempted to teach seduction moves, boys included. That involved a lot of laughs, but not a lot learned. Hinata taught the group where pressure nerves were located and thanks to Naruto didn't faint once, though it was difficult to hear her. Sakura taught a chakra control exercise that Sasuke failed horribly at. Ami wouldn't let it go for days. She was finally better at something than Sasuke ninja involved.

Perhaps one of the most interesting lessons much to Sasuke's chagrin was Kiba's. He went up and taught everyone how to use chakra to increase all their senses which was really cool. Suddenly Sasuke could hear and smell way better than before. However, when he went to send chakra to his eyes he found he couldn't. Instead he got a mild headache for his effort. When he brought it up to Ami and Naruto later they seemed surprised. Apparently that had never happened to them. Sasuke scowled again. Why didn't it work for him when it worked for them? He was still grumbling about it later that night when they went out to dinner. It was Ami's turn to treat.

That was another side effect of the summer training. Their age group had gotten a lot closer. Sasuke finally felt like he truly belonged. He looked forward every day to the long hours spent at the training ground hanging out under the burning sun with the people he had begun to dub as his friends. They were always looking at him as the leader of their group. When they had questions or just wanted to talk they went to Sasuke for his advice and ideas. It made Sasuke feel like he was needed and gave him a warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach. People were acknowledging him! Ami warned him in a joking tone not to let it get to his head.

At the same time another friendship was developing. Because the summer training had been his idea, but pulled off by Naruto he and Naruto shared the responsibility and it had slowly driven them closer together. It had become a bit of a tradition through Ami's maneuvering to go get dinner together afterwards just the three of them. Sasuke and Naruto also began working together a lot more to teach lessons on days when no one else had signed up or just to add something in. Ami encouraged the friendship as much as possible. When Sasuke questioned her on her motives she would just claim it was to gain more evidence on Naruto being the Yondaime. Due largely to Ami's constant interferences which foiled all Sasuke's escape attempts, Ami and Sasuke found themselves at the Namikaze household so much that they could walk in and get food for themselves with no one even giving it a second glance. Before the summer was over it had stopped being Sasuke and Ami and somehow had turned into Sasuke, Ami, and Naruto.

Much like Ami had, Naruto had slowly wormed his way into Sasuke's heart. He was no longer the annoying blond Sasuke had secretly or not so secretly always been jealous of. He had strangely turned into a friend, though Sasuke was loath to admit it.

As Naruto, Ami, and Sasuke passed an ideal summer by lounging in the training ground and out at the restaurants cementing their friendship, Kushina fretted and worried. She didn't know what to do. The boy, Sasuke, who was quickly becoming her son's best friend was tormenting her. First, he served as a reminder of everything that could have happened to her son and reminded her of Minato's death. Then, he also bore an unearthly resemblance to the Uchiha. It frightened Kushina more than she would ever admit and she had no idea what to do. She was positive she hadn't imagined the conversation outside her hospital room. The boy had to be an Uchiha. Should she confront Mikoto and Fugaku about this? But, Mikoto really seemed to think her son was dead. Maybe Sasuke's appearance was just a coincidence. She couldn't bring it up with no evidence! It would only serve to hurt Mikoto more. She'd have to stick to just observing now and if she attempted to force him to activate his sharingan at the same time, then so be it.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I Don't Own This

Ch. 7

Namikaze Kushina formerly Uzumaki cackled rather evilly. She'd always vaguely known that the Sharingan could only be activated in extreme life or death situations, but she'd just today had it confirmed by Mikoto during their weekly tea. Mikoto had seemed alarmed by Kushina's interest and told her rather firmly that, no the Uchiha would not appreciate a prank that scared the living day lights out of them even if it allowed them to activate their eyes.

Well, Mikoto wouldn't appreciate it. The other Uchiha might, but only after they destroyed Kushina. No one was allowed to prank them. After extricating a promise from Kushina that she wouldn't prank the Uchiha, though Kushina continued to cackle evilly, which was rather disturbing to Mikoto, Mikoto sent her on her way. As she watched the red head leave she wondered if they should increase security. But Kushina had promised, and if there was one thing Kushina was known for it was never breaking her word.

XXX XXX XXX

Summer was rapidly ending Sasuke noted as he lounged on a tree and watched once again blondie and pinkie fight to the death. Since summer was going to be over soon they had decided to do a tournament. It was taijutsu only and this was the semifinals. It wasn't that shocking that the two had made it this far. Ino had gone against Shikamaru who had taken one look at her and forfeited.

This had of course led to Ino chasing him around the training ground trying to beat him up screaming something along the lines, "Come back here you baka! How dare you forfeit! It was just because you didn't want to fight a girl, wasn't it? Stop running, you lazy ass!"

No one had been stupid enough to try to stop the enraged girl. Somehow Shikamaru had managed to evade her. Shikamaru had then hidden behind Chouji and it had been up to Chouji to calm the enraged girl. It hadn't worked to well.

Ino instead yelled at him, "Move it fatass! I'm going to destroy that stupid baka!"

It hadn't ended well for Ino. By the time she was called up again to fight Hibachi she was spitting mad and completely destroyed the kid with one punch. Sasuke still wasn't sure why Hibachi was allowed into the meetings, but since he'd been humiliated by Ino it wasn't a huge deal.

Sakura, on the other hand, had fought Kota. Kota had put up a decent fight, but Ino had already won her first fight and there was no way Sakura was going to be left behind. Her next fight had been against Ami which hadn't been much of a fight. Instead they'd spent most of the fight talking.

"I'm going to beat you so badly, you have no idea," Sakura had taunted. Ami had merely smirked back at her not in the least bit bothered by the girl's words. Instead she answered them with her own taunt.

"Still need to make up for you gigantic forehead, huh, forehead girl? What's your name again? I can't even remember. I just get so distracted by your forehead," she answered. It looked like they were about to break into a vicious fight. Sasuke had frowned. Most of what Ami said was true, but Sakura really didn't have that big of a forehead.

Sakura had noticed as well and angrily told Ami, "My forehead isn't that big! Why do you always insult it?"

For a moment Ami had seemed shocked. She didn't seem to know how to respond. Why did she make fun of Sakura's forehead in the first place?

"Duh! It doesn't have to do with your actual forehead, stupid. It's more to do with the fact, that you're all brain and no brawn. Or at least you used to be. I guess you've gotten a bit better since then," Ami sniffed. Sakura stared at Ami in shock. Had the girl just complimented her?

Ami, for her part, was pretty proud of herself. She'd made that all up on the fly. It wasn't really true. Back then it had just been a way of asserting herself at the top in front of Fuki and Kasumi. To do that you had to bring someone else down or at least that's what Ami had thought. That someone had been Sakura. She kind of felt bad for it now. Okay, she felt really bad for it now. Which was why she was going to fix it!

Sakura's world had just shifted on its axis. Her forehead really wasn't that big. Instead the moniker forehead had actually been a bit of a backwards compliment. She blinked at the hand Ami had stretched before her.

"Friends?" Ami asked. Sakura continued to stare at the hand in front of her before nodding and shaking it.

She smiled timidly at Ami before announcing, "Let's make this a good fight!" From Sasuke's point of view it had been a pretty good fight, though after Ami lost he was surprised she walked off still talking to Sakura like they were the best of friends. But then girls were weird like that. Ino's and Sakura's fight had been much the same with lots of talking and little action. It was probably a good thing Sakura won because Chouji had won the other semifinal round. He would've decimated Ino.

He'd still beaten down Sakura with his family's famous strength. But then again Chouji had really wanted the prize. It had been a meal at the all you can eat barbeque place down in the market district. Naruto had arranged for the prize and seemed pleased with how the tournament had turned out. He and Sasuke hadn't competed but had instead served as the referees. Sasuke hadn't really minded. It'd been a really hot day out he'd enjoyed lounging in the sun with Shikamaru and making Naruto do all the work.

After the tournament instead of heading out for dinner like they normally did, Ami headed off with Sakura and Ino to go do some girl thing and jauntily waved at Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto didn't seem the least bit perturbed and instead turned to Sasuke.

"Want to go out for dinner Sasuke? Ooh wait, my mom's cooking tonight! Let's go!" Naruto told Sasuke before dragging him off to his house. Sasuke glowered at Ami's back as he was dragged out of the training ground mumbling about evil best friends and blondes who had no idea of what personal space was.

XXX XXX XXX

The next day Sasuke was woken up bright and early by someone pounding on his door. He groaned and attempted to go back to sleep, but the pounding on his door just got louder. He went to answer it in his pajamas only to find a grinning Ami standing outside his door. He stared at her for a moment before glaring.

"You woke me up!" He accused angrily. Ami didn't look the least bothered. She'd probably planned to wake him up anyways.

As Ami barged into his house she told him, "Oh relax! I brought tomatoes you know," she said as if that solved everything. It almost did. Tomatoes were his favorite food.

"Also" Ami leaned in as if sharing a great secret, "I didn't invite Naruto" Sasuke stared at her for a moment before sighing. 

"I suppose you're forgiven," he told Ami who was already raiding his kitchen for food. He frowned at her. How come Ami always barged into his house like she owned it? It just wasn't fair. Sasuke had never even been to Ami's house. He had a rough idea of where she lived since it was pretty nearby, but she'd never even invited him over.

As Ami dragged him to the library to explore some conspiracy or other of hers, after all, summer was almost over, he brought up his doubts about never being invited over.

Ami looked surprised and then a little unhappy as if she didn't really want to discuss it, "Well, whenever I bring you up my mom always… I don't know! It's just like she doesn't want me to be friends with you! Okay? So, I just can't invite you over. It's not because I don't like you or anything! I really don't know." here she looked at Sasuke suspiciously, "Your parents didn't do something bad did they? Because I know my mom's not the only one who gives you looks. In fact, whenever I'm with you I've seen older people look at you funny! What'd you do?" Ami asked. Sasuke just shrugged. He didn't know! Ami's eyes it up with that familiar spark and Sasuke groaned.

He knew what she was going to say right before she said it, "It's a conspiracy!" and with that Ami began to pull him in earnest much like a certain blond towards the library.

While Ami busied herself with trying to solve the conspiracy around Sasuke, Sasuke, who had rather pointedly told her he wasn't getting involved, looked into something that had been bugging him since the clan versus clanless debacle at school. It was a little difficult to find as the librarian wasn't very helpful, but eventually he found the list of genin who passed the academy and then their jounins second test. That was surprising to Sasuke. He hadn't known there was a second test to be genin. But as Sasuke stared at the list he felt himself go numb. No way! No way this was true! It couldn't be!

Ami noticed Sasuke's almost catatonic state and stared at him for a moment wondering what was wrong. She went to stand behind him and read what he was reading. For a moment she didn't understand. It was just a list of names, after all. But after a while the meaning of it all began to sink in.

"No way! No way! That's not possible! There is no way that's true! It's lying! It's got to be lying." Ami told Sasuke. Sasuke looked at her for a moment and then back at the sheet he was holding.

He shook his head before saying, "Where ninja. This is what we do. What happens to students who don't pass the genin test?" They both know which genin test he's talking about. The jounin one, the real one.

"They go to the reserve ninja corps. They're cannon fodder. A few might become something or get to join anbu, but most just die, a complete and total unglamorous death. My dad was one of them, you know? He died fighting the Kyuubi as cannon fodder. I swore I wouldn't go there. But I guess that doesn't matter does it? All ninja who don't have the contacts or aren't from amazing ninja families go there" Ami said bitterly. Sasuke frowned and looked at the list for contradictions. He blinked at one year.

"That's not true. Look at this year! It's almost all civilian ninja. None of them are from clans!" Sasuke told Ami. Ami looked at the year and then took out a piece of paper and began writing down the people in their year.

She ignored Sasuke as she circled eight names on her sheet before announcing, "There are nine ninja who are passed into the elites each year. They are given the best jounin senseis and the best chance to eventually advance to jounin themselves. They are the elites. I always thought they just took the top nine, but that's not true. Based on your list clan kids and people with connections are given priority. If you apply that to our year then there is only one open spot for a civilian ninja to get into the elites and nineteen civilians competing for that spot. However, if they follow their normal pattern then it has to be female which leaves seven civilian females competing for that one spot. If they take the highest scoring civilian female, then it's Sakura. Shit! There's no way I can beat her! Even yesterday proved that!"

Ami then circled Sakura's name on the list. Sasuke frowned. Did this mean he didn't even have the slightest chance at the elites? If they only had one spot and it was a female spot then where did that leave him? He glanced down at the list again and frowned. His name was circled.

He glanced at Ami before asking curiously, "Why's my name circled? I'm not from a clan and I don't have amazing connections either." Ami stared at him for a moment like he was stupid. Sasuke stared back angrily. Ami was still pissed off from learning that her lifelong goal of getting into the elites was pretty much impossible and Sasuke was going to have it handed to him no matter what he did! And he was too stupid to even realize why. It was probably what caused her to snap at him.

"Are you stupid? I'm Sasuke and I don't have any amazing connections at all! No one notices me and I have to train myself! My life sucks, just because some people don't really like me! It's not like an Anbu taught me an elemental jutsu or whenever I want I can go to the Hokage to complain about my problems. Get real, Sasuke! How many people have ever actually spoken to the Hokage? And yet you treat him like he's practically your grandfather! He takes you out to eat on your birthday for kami's sake! No amazing connections my ass. I'd trade spots with you for anything!" Ami ranted.

Sasuke stared at her completely shocked and bowled over. While he had never admitted how strange his relationship with the Hokage was it wasn't like he was given special privileges because of it. Why the hell would she want to switch spots with him?

He glared at Ami, "Are you crazy? Have you seen how much everyone hates me? Hell, you pointed it out today! Even your mom doesn't like me! I'd give anything to have a loving parent like you do! But no, you're too busy freaking out about the fact that your family doesn't offer you privileges to appreciate them. The Hokage only looks after me because there's no one else to do it and because no one else wants to bother! You act like it's all just going to be handed to me! It's not. I still have to work just as hard as everyone else to get my spot!"

With that Sasuke got up and left, but he still heard Ami yell, "That paper of yours said otherwise!" There was a grain of truth to her words and perhaps Sasuke was technically going to be handed a spot, but he was still angry at the idea that Ami would be willing to switch spots with him just to get his connections to the Hokage. Didn't she understand how hard it was for him to endure the indifference and sometimes hatred of the villagers? He'd give anything to have a family who loved him. Even give up being a ninja!

XXX XXX XXX

Kushina followed the black headed boy who she was pretty sure by now had to be an Uchiha. After all, who else could glare like that? The boy had left the library in a rather foul mood and was currently stalking around town a cloud of anger surrounding him. Passer byers gave him a wide berth. He headed towards the abandoned training ground he always went to when in the mood to skulk and Kushina grinned. Woo hoo! Her plan was working! She'd covered the area in traps a while ago, but the boy hadn't been here alone in a while. Now was her chance. As the boy settled in pacing and muttering and complaining to the sky Kushina closed her eyes before releasing a burst of chakra.

Sasuke leapt to his feet as the ground around him exploded. He immediately jumped behind the largest tree he could find for protection wondering what the hell was going on. For a moment, as he hid behind the tree his heart pounding in fear, he thought the explosions were over.

But then the tree itself exploded. Sasuke was thrown back and he threw a hand down to the ground to break his fall before falling into the academy roll meant to stop damage from occurring. As Sasuke popped back up a barrage of shuriken came flying towards him. Without thinking he dropped to the ground as they passed above him. He then, using the underbrush for cover, attempted to reach the cop of trees to the west of him to gain cover.

However, before he could reach them he tripped over what he assumed was concealed ninja wire. Cursing slightly the ground around him began to explode. Thinking fast he performed the trick Naruto had been nice enough to attempt to teach to the class, kawarmi. Sasuke had never mastered it, but in a do or die situation that wasn't important. As he switched out with a twig from a tree he watched frozen from the branch of the tree he was concealed on as a figure dressed all in black walked out of the smoke from the explosion.

"Come out! Come out wherever you are!" the figure taunted. Sasuke tried desperately to control his breathing. This wasn't some horrible training accident! Someone was attempting to kill him! He was going to die. Sasuke could feel himself beginning to panic. He didn't want to die! He needed to say sorry to Ami or tell Naruto that they were actually friends before he died. He hadn't watched clouds with Shikamaru yet, or gone out for barbeque with Chouji. There was so much he still had to do. He didn't want to die!

With a new found resolve and courage Sasuke began to think. He needed a plan. There was no way he was going to die just yet! As the figure began approaching Sasuke began forming seals. While the grand fireball technique probably wouldn't kill the assailant it would give Sasuke the time he needed. He poured as much of his chakra into the technique as possible and blew the fire out. Sasuke felt his lips burn slightly but he ignored it. He used the cover of the fire to stealthily go onto the field where he collected the discarded ninja wire and shuriken. He scanned the area for other supplies before disappearing back into the shadows.

"Not bad brat!" the voice called with a laugh. The unspoken, but not good enough, was clearly heard by Sasuke, but he didn't care. Yakumi-sensei had always praised Sasuke's creative use of ninja wire. It was time to put that skill into practice to create the ultimate trap. Sasuke quickly pooled the ninja wire around the trees setting up kunai in certain areas to push the black clad figure into an open clearing. From there Sasuke would destroy them with fire. They wouldn't have anything to kawarmi with.

First, though, Sasuke had to get the figure to fall into the trap. Sasuke attempted to create a bunshin, but the attempt failed as always. Sasuke swore. He'd wanted to use it as the bait, but he'd just have to use himself. Sasuke's taijutsu was pretty good, but he was taking a big risk. He attempted to approach the figure as stealthily as possible before running to throw a hit. It was immediately blocked and the figure laughed at him.

Sasuke jumped backwards his eyes wide in shock. The figure leapt forward towards him a foot coming towards his face. Sasuke barely had time to block. Damn it! Instead of him pushing the figure towards his trap the figure was pushing him back. As the figure approached their foot came forward again, but this time Sasuke was ready to block. He miscalculated. The foot was just a feint and Sasuke found himself held in a grapple hold around his throat. Sasuke couldn't breathe!

"You're going to die now, brat" the figure told him. Sasuke's vision was getting blurry and the world was starting to fade in and out of focus. I'm going to die was his only thought. He was going to miss all his friends and he'd never get to be a ninja. He wondered vaguely if they'd miss him.

As Sasuke succumbed to death a voice howled within, "**Don't you dare die you brat!" **Suddenly energy was shooting through Sasuke. His hands grew claws and he ripped the hands choking him off his neck. With a flurry of energy he propelled himself forward attacking like a feral beast. The figure stared at him in slight horror and stumbled backwards. Turning to flee the figure fell right into Sasuke's trap. As the figure tried to kawarmi the hell out of there they used the log Sasuke had set. The trip wire was set off and kunai exploded out of the forest. The figure escaped into the empty clearing, where Sasuke after seeing his trap go off had escaped to. The figure was wrapped in ninja wire from entering the clearing and Sasuke's trap. Sasuke sent a fireball directly at the figure. It made contact. However, before Sasuke could celebrate his victory the figure disappeared in a puff of smoke. 

Sasuke was left alone in the empty clearing staring at the spot where the person had been in shock. All the energy from the battle deserted him and he fainted from exhaustion.

Kushina watched the boy from above the trees. He'd been pretty impressive. Didn't academy students not learn kawarmi until later? She was pretty sure academy brats only learned how to access their chakra and some chakra control exercises in the first year. So how had he done it? It was a question to puzzle out later because the moment of truth had already passed.

He wasn't an Uchiha. His eyes had never activated even when he'd been an inch from death. Instead he'd accessed the fox's chakra. His eyes had turned red, but not the red of the sharingan. Was that supposed to happen? Did he know about the fox? It raised some disturbing questions that she'd have to report to the Hokage. For now, though, she just had to watch the brat. She'd gotten the Hokage to assign her to watch the brat like the Anbu did. It wouldn't have been a good thing if one of the Anbu had interrupted her fight with the boy, after all. Her watch was supposed to end in about an hour. For now, she'd just sit back and relax. The kid was sleeping, after all.

An hour later when the Anbu Cat came to replace her the kid was still sleeping. It was getting a bit worrisome at this point for Kushina. But she was leaving now! It was officially the other Anbus problem! It's not like she'd done anything to cause his problem, right?

XXX XXX XXX

Namikaze Naruto was in a bad mood. He hadn't seen his ka-san all day and Sasuke hadn't shown up to training today! It was one of the last days, too! How dare Sasuke not show up! Ami had begrudgingly admitted that it was probably her fault the other boy hadn't shown up.

"Huh? Did you tell him not to show up?" the confused blond asked. Ami looked embarrassed and glowered at Naruto.

"Of course not, stupid! We just got into a fight is all," Ami admitted. Naruto being Naruto immediately wanted to know all about the supposed fight.

After hearing about who became ninja and who didn't, Naruto's eyes widened before he declared, "Really? I didn't know that! But it's wrong! The best should be ninja. Your family and connections shouldn't matter! I'm going to talk to the old man about this!" Ami was pretty shocked, but she wasn't stupid. She didn't think Naruto would be able to get anything changed. That meant if she wanted to be an elite she'd have to beat out Sakura! Well, at least she had a new goal. And she'd make Sasuke help her with it even if it meant she had to apologize to the boy! She was going to be an elite, believe it!

XXX XXX XXX

When Sasuke woke up in a hospital room he knew something was wrong. There were people all around his bed. What the hell?

Naruto was the first to speak, "Sasuke! You're awake! How'd you get chakra exhaustion, huh? Were you practicing some awesome jutsu?" Naruto's eyes were wide, but Sasuke frowned at him.

Chakra exhaustion? Slowly the memories came back. Someone had tried to kill him and he'd… he'd tapped into some weird power. His chakra had been red! But chakra was blue. The only chakra that had ever been red… the nine tailed fox! What did this mean? He'd have to ask the old man.

After Naruto spoke it was like the dam had been removed. Everyone wanted to say something. Practically everyone from the training session was there. Sakura was explaining to Kota and Ino, who was pretending she already knew, what chakra exhaustion was. Fuki and Hibachi looked uncertain as if they weren't positive they were invited while Kiba was telling anyone who would listen that Sasuke was holding back on them and wasn't teaching them everything he knew. Shino and Shikamaru were talking quietly to each other while Chouji bemoaned the fact that the hospital wouldn't let him bring his chips inside. Ami stood to the side staring at him.

When everyone but Naruto had trooped out she said softly, "They say if you're not careful you can die from chakra exhaustion. The doctor said your coils were all burnt up. They've healed now, but you could've died! And then… then I never would have been able to say sorry! You would've died and our argument would've never been resolved. I'm sorry Sasuke!" Sasuke stared at her a moment before grinning.

"Yah, me too! I'm sorry. And you know what? I'll help you as much as I can! There's no way you won't get into the elites!" Sasuke told Ami. As the group settled down and played cards and games Sasuke felt pretty content. Sure, someone had tried to kill him, and they were still out there, but he had his friends to protect him. Because they weren't just the Namikaze's friends they were his as well.

That left a bit of a problem for Sasuke. His largest goal had always been to be acknowledged, but that'd already happened. So what did he do now? As Ami and Naruto fought over whether or not the other had cheated during the game of cards Sasuke glanced at them. He'd been attacked and almost killed. He needed to get stronger. So, being an awesome ninja was still part of the plan. But, Sasuke didn't want to be completely absorbed in training like he had been at the beginning of the year. What would be the point of life if you didn't live it?

So he needed a second goal! Sasuke grinned! He'd fix the clan versus clanless program! Ninja life should be based on who was the best. The uppers sabotaging the clanless had to stop. And Sasuke already knew his first step. While he couldn't touch the program politically right now he could try to level the playing field for non clan students. The summer program was definitely one of the best levelers out there. So, he'd just have to continue it!

"Hey. Naruto! I think we should run the summer program next year, too! We should invite all the years even the years younger than us! You know level the clan and clanless playing field!" Sasuke told Naruto.

Naruto blinked at him for a moment before nodding seriously and saying, "I'll work on the political front! Civilian students should be given the top jounins just like clan kids. Otherwise it's just a waste of talent! Don't worry I'll raise awareness about it in the clan world and convince the old man and his crusty advisors, too!" Ami grinned at them.

"So operation level the playing field is a go? What should I do?" Ami asked. Naruto and Sasuke glanced at her and grinned.

Sasuke asked, "Your grandpa's on the civilian council because he's a big merchant, right? So, you just have to raise awareness and outrage about the ninja system over there and we'll get what we want! In peace times the civilian council has a lot of power and clout. If you convinced them the ninja system was unfair to civilians they'd raise a lot of fanfare. Then the Hokage and the clan people who Naruto's already been working with will have to change the system!"

"Yah! And if they try to argue that clan kids are better than non clan kids it won't work! Because Sasuke will be running the summer program and making sure all the clanless kids are just as good as the clan kids even without all the extra special training clan kids get," Naruto put in.

Sasuke grinned. Life was good. So, someone had tried to kill him? He'd just get stronger! There was no way anyone was going to stop him. He, Ami, and Naruto were going to take on the world. Believe it!

XXX XXX XXX

Uchiha Fugaku looked at the scroll he carried. It contained various ninjutsu, genjutsu, and even kinjutsu. In the wrong hands it could be deadly. Besides that it carried basic chakra control exercises and other basic academy skills. Fugaku thought it would be perfect for his son Sasuke. It would definitely be the leg up Sasuke needed to usurp the Namikaze's position in the class. It wasn't the ideal, but it was better than nothing. Hopefully it would help make up for the fact that Sasuke would never access his Sharingan.

The problem had been dealt with when Kushina had forced Jiraiya back into town to look after Naruto, so she could escape to god knows where. The Sandaime had immediately enlisted Jiraiya's help in sealing Sasuke's sharingan eyes. Even if they wanted to they could never develop unless the seal was removed. Jiraiya had been sworn to secrecy, but Fugaku still would have rather the man not known. As he dropped the scroll into Sasuke's apartment Fugaku was tempted to take a look around, but he quickly stifled the urge. The boy was meant to be clanless for a reason, and Fugaku could never claim him.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own this.

Ch. 8

Sasuke carefully placed the scroll on his bed before dropping to the ground and prying open the wooden floor board. After stealthily looking around to make sure no one was looking he cautiously stored the scroll inside the hidden compartment. It was Sasuke's most prized possession and he wanted to make sure no one stole it.

It had mysteriously appeared approximately four years before with no name and no proof of ownership. Yet the kanji inside had been written with such grace and precision that Sasuke was sure that it had been meant as a gift, unless the mysterious benefactor had accidentally dropped it at the wrong apartment. That thought brought a smile to Sasuke's face as he imagined a strange figure bumbling around carrying the large scroll.

Sometimes Sasuke would wonder who had given him the scroll. He would day dream about secret relatives or friends of his parents who he had never met. Some of his theories were extremely farfetched. He once even thought it might have been Naruto's mom, before he dismissed such a ridiculous thought.

After closing the floor board Sasuke got up, brushed the dust off his clothes and went to prepare breakfast. Today was an important day in his career as a ninja. Today, Sasuke would be assigned a team and a sensei. He had passed the genin test two days ago with no problems, but the real test was still to come. Nerves had kept him up all night to the point where he had taken out the scroll and begun practicing.

Sasuke logically knew that there would be no problems today either. Two years ago a new program of accepting ninja into the elites had begun. The top nine students were taken in with no questions asked while any clan members or students with connections who weren't in the top nine were taken in as well.

Sasuke, Naruto, and even Ami had managed to make the top nine which was a cause for celebration. Naruto had confided that they were definitely going to be a genin team together under Hatake Kakashi. Sasuke wanted to trust in that, too, yet he couldn't quite get rid of the feeling of impending doom that had kept him up all night.

With a shrug, Sasuke grabbed a large tomato and began the long walk to the academy as he attempted to rationalize away his fears.

XXX XXX XXX

As Sasuke walked towards the academy he nodded nonchalantly at a younger student named Hosei. Hosei saw Sasuke and waved before dashing over.

"You have no idea how nervous I am!" Hosei told Sasuke. Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow before shrugging.

Hosei scowled slightly before saying, "You have no sympathy for my plight! The program gets more and more popular each year. There's like ninety people to deal with this year! I have no idea how I'm going to take charge of all of them."

"Relax. Take it easy. Divide them into skill level and assign a deputy to each group while you watch over the whole thing. Just do what Naruto and I did last year. It's no biggie. Anyways don't you have genin ninja helping you most days?" Sasuke questioned.

"Yeah, yeah. I just don't get why you put me in charge of it. I bet there are tons of people who could do it better than me. Agh! It's so stressful" Hosei complained. Sasuke laughed at Hosei's plight before assuring him that he was definitely the best qualified to take over the summer program Sasuke and Naruto had started approximately four years ago.

He was just about to leave when a blond blur descended on them by exclaiming, "Are you doubting our judgment, Hosei? How dare you insult your elders in such a way!"

Naruto's voice held an air of authority that made Hosei crack up. He performed a mocking bow before proclaiming, "Of course not Namikaze-sama. I would never doubt you. I'm sure you have never made one wrong decision in your life."

Naruto grinned before giving a thumbs up and loudly declaring, "You got that right! Believe it!" Sasuke just groaned.

Ignoring Sasuke, Naruto focused his attention on Hosei as he poutingly asked, "You're not even going to wish us good luck on our team tests today? What kind of friend are you?"

Hosei looked surprised before he said, "I completely forgot! Good luck you guys! I'm sure you'll be fine, though, because, well, it's you guys. You're practically legends already. I'll be amazed if you aren't on the same team. I guess I'll see you after you're officially elites!"

"Yah yah! Believe it!" Naruto told him before he grabbed Sasuke by the arm and began dragging him towards the academy full speed. Sasuke didn't even bother complaining as he was used to it by now. How could he not be?

XXX XXX XXX

"You're late," Ami told them angrily. She looked pissed as she told them, "I even went to all the trouble to save you guys seats and everything."

She pointed to the seats to the left and to the right of her both of which were empty. Sasuke casually looked around before asking, "How exactly are we late? No one else is even here yet. All the seats are empty."

"We agreed to meet at the school fifteen minutes ago to discuss our strategy! Jeez Sasuke. I don't care if no one else is here. You're still late," Ami complained.

"Discuss our strategy? Our strategy for what?" Sasuke questioned before continuing, "Anyways it's not like we meant to be late. We ran into Hosei on the way here. I couldn't just ignore him, you know. "

Ami huffed and turned slightly red before saying, "Excuses excuses. And it's our strategy for the genin test, duh. I mean I'm pretty sure we'll pass but I'm not taking any chances."

Naruto nodded seriously before sitting down in one of the chairs and saying, "I'm pretty sure we'll have Kakashi. He's late for everything. We're doomed, doomed, I tell you. Every day we'll spend hours upon hours waiting for him. I can see his face taunting me, taunting me! I wanna see his face!"

Naruto then diverged into mutterings about Kakashi's face and how he would one day see under that evil mask. Ami rolled her eyes at Naruto's dramatics before turning to Sasuke for his opinion. Sasuke shrugged before finally asking what had been bugging him all day, "Uh… What if we aren't together?"

Naruto looked up from his mutterings to laugh at that. "Don't be ridiculous. Of course we'll be together. It's pretty much assured. I know how these things work. There is no way we won't be together! Ask anyone. The moment the three of us became friends we were destined to be a genin team together," Naruto assured Sasuke with a sagely nod. Sasuke nodded slightly, but he still felt uneasy.

Slowly other students began to file in until everyone had arrived. Since it was their last day together as a class there was a lot of goofing off. Shikamaru was unsurprisingly sleeping while Ino drew on his face with ink. Sakura watched while Kiba laughed his ass off. Chouji watched the proceedings with a frown, but didn't do anything about it. Ino was scary, after all. Naruto tried to tempt Shino into an arm wrestling contest to no avail while Hibachi pestered Kota into lending him some ninja wire. Sasuke and Ami sat at their desks watching it all with faint amusement.

"I can't believe we're actually graduating. I feel like we just arrived, you know," Ami said nostalgically.

Sasuke glanced around before responding, "Yeah. And think of all we've done in just a short time. We already managed to change the system… if only a little."

Ami and Sasuke shared a faint smile and Sasuke noted absentmindedly that Ami's grey eyes were fairly glowing. For a while they sat in a comfortable silence.

"I wonder where we'll be four years from now," Ami finally said. Sasuke was about to answer, but Yakumi- sensei chose that moment to enter the class room.

Yakumi walked into the class room with an air of purpose. The classroom fell dead silent. His eyes rested on Ino before he sighed and did a face palm. He finally asked, "How old are you guys again?"

XXX XXX XXX

After listening to a long winded explanation of how as ninja more was expected of them now, sensei finally got to the good part, the teams. Before listing each team Yakumi listed who would be in charge of the team. Sasuke had done a lot of preparation for this. He had memorized all the big shot jounin that Konoha had to offer. That way he would immediately know if a team was an elite team or a corps team based on the sensei.

"Team 1," Yakumi sensei began, "Under Hamaki Mimura…"

"Trash," Sasuke muttered. He didn't even bother to listen to the names. He already knew they were doomed to the corps anyways.

Nothing interesting happened until, "Team seven under Hatake Kakashi," Yakumi sensei called out. Sasuke sat up forward in his chair to listen. His eyes were wide as he stared up at Yakumi sensei. Naruto, who had been day dreaming, straightened up to listen as well. He turned to look at Sasuke and gave a small thumbs up. Ami, who had been paying rapt attention the whole time, leaned forward even more to hear sensei in preparation of their names being called.

"Namikaze Naruto, Kato Ami" Yakumi announced. Naruto and Ami shared gleeful looks before Ami grabbed Sasuke's hand tight and squeezed. Sasuke leaned forward waiting to hear his name complete the team.

"And Watanabe Habichi," Yakumi finished. Sasuke could feel his stomach dropping right out of his body.

"What!" Naruto yelled. Ami's mouth had dropped open in a horrified expression and she was practically squeezing the life out of Sasuke's hand. Sasuke was stuck in a daze. There was no way this had happened. It was all a dream. It had to be. If he closed his eyes shut and counted to three then when he reopened them it would all go away and he would be the one on team seven with Naruto and Ami.

Naruto was still shouting and the whole room had dissolved into uproar. Even Shikamaru looked surprised. Yakumi- sensei gave Naruto a quelling look before continuing on the list.

"Team Eight under Kurenai Yuhi, Inuzuka Kiba…" Yukumi sensei droned. But Sasuke could hardly hear him. He was still in a state of shock. Ami and Naruto were also no longer listening to the team assignments. They were instead staring at Sasuke with a look close to pity. Sasuke couldn't look at them. There was no way this could happen, no way.

He didn't snap back into reality until Yakumi sensei announced, "Sasuke, Hamada Fuki, and Oshiro Kota."

For a moment he sat there without saying anything. Neither Fuki nor Kota had been in the top nine. They had no connections either. As they were dismissed for lunch Ami said quietly, "You can still sit with us, you know, even though you're not on our team."

But Sasuke just jerkily shook his head before walking off by himself. The lunch was meant to be a time to be with your new teammates. He couldn't sit with Ami and Naruto. But he had no desire to go find his new teammates. Instead he went outside and leaned up against a tree. He closed his eyes and willed it all away. He was unsuccessful.

A voice interrupted, "Ah… Ss..Sasuke, uh, you wanna sit with us?" Kota's voice was shaking as he asked. Sasuke glanced up at him and stared for a moment. He looked nervous as hell. A part of Sasuke took pleasure in making Kota feel uncomfortable and he prolonged the moment for as long as possible before he shrugged and nodded.

The meal, which Fuki also attended, was conducted in tense silence. Kota kept giving Sasuke nervous glances before quickly looking away in fear and Fuki spent the whole time staring at her food refusing to make eye contact with either of them.

Sasuke spent the time watching the both of them his eyes narrowed before finally interrupting the silence. He calmly asked, "Who's our sensei again?"

For a while there was no answer, but eventually Fuki noticed that Kota would not answer and said, "Tekuno Kanden."

She spoke softly and did not even look up from her food. Sasuke nodded his head, but inside his hopes had plummeted. Their jounin was a nobody. He was destined for the corps. They ate the rest of their meal in a terse silence.

XXX XXX XXX

"Yo kids. Welcome to team twelve! I'll be your sensei Tekuno Kanden," their sensei announced after they reached training ground five. Sasuke glanced at him. He was a little on the chubby side for a ninja, but besides that he looked completely nondescript. He had brown hair and brown eyes. In essence he was one of those faces you immediately forgot right after seeing. Sasuke thought rather vindictively that he looked just like Kota all grown up.

As their sensei played with his fingerless gloves, he smiled before announcing cheerily, "Why don't we do introductions? We'll start with you."

He pointed at Fuki who nodded slightly. Sasuke groaned. What was the point of doing introductions? Did they really think that after spending years together they had no idea who each other were?

"My name is Fuki. I enjoy tea ceremonies, flower arranging..." Fuki said in a calm voice as she clenched her hands together anxiously in her lap. However, instead of listening to the rest Sasuke began tuning her out and then Kota, as he aimlessly picked the grass. It's not like he needed to know these things, after all. They weren't really going to be a team after today, after they failed their genin test that is. Sasuke was already one hundred percent sure that they were going to fail. It was decided who was going to fail before hand and never had one of those teams passed, not even on some fluke. Sasuke was pretty sure they were given impossible tests that looked like they could be done, but really couldn't. He was also equally positive that his team was one of the teams selected before hand to fail.

"I like learning new things and asking questions, and solving puzzles, and my doggy Mike, umm and my family, oh I like soba noodles, too," Kota nervously rambled on and on. Sasuke idly wondered if Fuki had to use gel in her auburn hair to make it defy gravity the way it did.

He was startled out of his musing by Tekuno sensei's announcement that it was his turn. The way sensei was looking at him and Fuki's bored expression revealed that they'd been trying to get his attention for close to a minute. Sasuke snapped back to attention before announcing, "My name is Sasuke."

He didn't include anything else not because he was being snobby, but because he couldn't remember what they were supposed to say. He hadn't, after all, really been listening. Sensei was giving him a weird look clearly indicating that he should continue and Sasuke felt himself beginning to panic. What should he say?

"Uhhhh. I like tomatoes?" Sasuke questioned.

Sensei nodded slightly before prodding, "Dislikes?" he asked.

Sasuke didn't have to even think before he claimed, "I dislike annoying people, being woken in the morning for no reason, and people always intruding in my house because they can."

Sensei nodded wisely as if Sasuke had just told him the meaning of life and Sasuke decided that he had said enough. Fuki, though, was still staring at him.

"You missed one. Dream for the future," she said finally. Sasuke glanced at her for a moment in annoyance.

"Fine. I want to be a great ninja," Sasuke said in an exasperated tone.

"Now that we've been introduced we might as well start the test," Tekuno sensei said, "I have a plank of wood right here."

He showed it to the three of them. Sasuke glanced at it. It was small, fancy looking, and had kanji engraved in it.

After they'd gotten a good look sensei continued, "In the next, say, five hours you will have the mission of tracking me down, beating me, and taking this from me. If you can complete this mission successfully you will officially become elite genin of Konoha. If you fail, though, you will be sent to the ninja corps. Understood?"

They nodded and with that he disappeared. Both Fuki and Kota immediately turned to Sasuke for a battle plan. After all, they were used to him taking charge during the summer program. But, Sasuke just stood there with a bored expression and his hands shoved in his pockets before plopping down in the grass. Kota frowned before asking excitedly, "So, what are we going to do, Sasuke?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sasuke asked, "We're going to do nothing."

Kota stared at him in shock and Fuki's eyes narrowed at him before she said carefully, "If we do nothing then we'll fail."

"I know. But if we do something we'll fail as well. Not to sound Shikamaru like, but we're better off just doing nothing," Sasuke said.

Kota stared at him before angrily asking, "What do you mean? Shouldn't we at least try? How do you know we're going to fail?"  
Sasuke glanced at him with a bored expression before inquiring, "Kota you're really good at sensing people's chakra, right? At last summer's program couldn't you find people when they hid, even in the market district? Did you get a read on sensei's chakra?"

Kota simply nodded before saying, "Of course I did. Do you think I'm an idiot?"

Sasuke merely yawned as Fuki watched the exchange with interest. "Ok. Find Tekuno sensei right now. It shouldn't be that hard," Sasuke requested.

Kota sat calmly for a couple minutes as he traced sensei's chakra. After searching fruitlessly he eventually gave up before announcing, "I can't find it."

Fuki's eyes widened and Sasuke nodded unsurprised. "No genin could find it. Don't you understand? They're failing us on purpose. Sensei is aware that we're genin. He's aware of our limitations, yet he's purposely acting at a level that we can't compete with. Even if by some chance we could find him he'd just demolish us in the fight. Either way you look at it we're screwed. We might as well give up while we're ahead," Sasuke told them. They sat in silence for a moment. Sasuke sat picking the grass staring up into the sky.

"If you're given an S-class mission can you just give up while you're ahead?" a soft voice interrupted, "Isn't it the job of the ninja to complete the mission no matter the consequences even if it is death?" Fuki asked.

Sasuke glanced up at her in surprise and then annoyance, "Don't you get it?" he angrily asked, "It's not a matter of completing a mission. This is impossible, impossible either way you look at it! They've set us up to fail!"

"Aren't you the one who said, "We're ninja, ninja cheat. Get used to it," when you and Naruto were competing last year? So what if the uppers set us up? So what? Aren't we ninja? We'll just cheat." Fuki said determinedly. Sasuke stared at her for a moment before blinking and shaking his head in dismay.

Kota sat for a moment deep in thought before he timidly asked, "Hey Sasuke? Our jounin sensei, he's not the best jounin out there, is he?"

Sasuke snorted before saying, "Far from it. Why?"

"Well… we're not on the level to track or even beat Tekuno sensei, are we? But there are plenty of people who are, right? So… so… why not have one of them do it for us? As long as we get the board does it really matter how we do it?"

Sasuke stared at him for a second before muttering, "Have someone do it for us?"

Fuki grinned slightly before saying, "I think that could be counted as cheating. Good thing we're ninja, right Sasuke?"

"Yah… that would… that would actually work. You're a genius Kota! But first we'd have to find someone who has that skill level and at the same time could be fooled by us. There's no one that stupid, is there?" Sasuke questioned.

"Well… there's that one creepy fishnet lady who's pretty easy to rile up. Of course we'd have to rile her up at Tekuni-sensei and not us… which might be difficult," Fuki mentioned.

Kota looked alarmed, "The snake lady? No way! She's scary! She'd skewer us. That sounds like an awful idea."

Sasuke meanwhile was smirking evilly. He glanced up at the two of them before saying, "Don't worry Kota. We're not going to bother the scary snake lady. I have a much, much better idea."

XXX XXX XXX

"Sasuke! It's such a surprise to see you without Naruto! What are you doing here? Wasn't your genin test today?" Kushina questioned.

Sasuke put on his best innocent face before saying, "Yes, it was Namikaze-san. My team and I were lucky to pass with flying colors. I came here to see if Naruto was done so we could go celebrate."

"Oh how many times do I have to tell you, Sasuke? There's no need to be so formal! Just call me Kushina! And sorry Naruto's not back yet. You know I kind of thought you'd be on the same team," Kushina told him easily.

Sasuke nodded before looking extremely disappointed, "Yah me, too. But it's not that big of a deal. I like my teammates. It's just my sensei…" Sasuke trailed off.

Kushina glanced at him with a slight motherly frown, "Your sensei?" she questioned.

"Well… I don't know if I should be telling you this… but he's a bit of a pervert," Sasuke said calmly. Kushina looked surprised before she sighed.

"Aren't they all?" she questioned. Sasuke nodded at her slightly.

He then continued in his most nonchalant voice, "Yah… but sensei almost takes it too far. He's really my only role model besides you, you know? Cuz I'm an orphan and all. But I don't want to turn out like that, too. And it wouldn't be a problem, not really, but sensei wants me to become like him. It's really scary," here he gave Kushina his best puppy dog eye look before continuing, "Like today he showed me pictures."

"Pictures," Kushina muttered as her eyes narrowed slightly. Sasuke nodded all innocent like.

"Yeah pictures. And they… they were of, of female ninja," Sasuke said in an embarrassed tone.

Kushina stared at him before mumbling, "Pictures of kunoichi?"

"Uh huh. And they were they, they weren't wearing anything…It was really really scary!" Sasuke claimed.

"Sasuke this is important. Did you recognize any of those kunoichi from the pictures?" Kushina asked seriously. Sasuke blushed profusely before nodding in an embarrassed fashion.

"There was even one of you," he said finally as he looked at the ground with a blush covering his cheeks. For a moment Sasuke though Kushina hadn't heard. She was staring at the ground, but when she looked up her eyes were practically on fire.

"Who's your sensei, Sasuke?" Kushina asked in a creepily calm monotone. Barely containing his evil grin, Sasuke told her and Kushina nodded before saying in the same creepy monotone, "I'll be back later Sasuke. Don't worry about your sensei."

Sasuke smirked after the retreating kunoichi. Kushina was moving with fire in her eyes as she angrily muttered about different ways of torturing perverted senseis.

"She's scary," Fuki muttered, "I almost feel bad for sensei."

She shivered slightly and Kota looked at her and nodded before muttering, "I suppose there was a reason she was known as the red hot-blooded habanero."

"Do you have a track on her Kota? We'll follow her stealthily from behind. Once she's beaten sensei up really badly we'll go in and take the board of wood. Hopefully without her noticing," Sasuke said with an air of authority completely ignoring what Fuki and Kota had been mumbling about.

Kota nodded before saying, "Yeah. It's actually pretty easy to follow because her chakra is so distinctive. It's weird. I wonder if it's because she's from whirlpool?"

Both Sasuke and Fuki shrugged. Did it really matter? Meanwhile Kushina in front of them was swearing quite heavily. Once she got her hands on that pervert she'd send him straight to hell. One thing that was bothering her though, was that he was hiding himself. It didn't make sense. Did he know she was coming?

"Whatever bastard! I'll find you either way! Prepare to die," she angrily yelled.

XXX XXX XXX

Kanden was actually having a pretty nice day. Even though he had to fail those brats his test let him pretty much do whatever he wanted all day. It was a nice feeling. He sat calmly sipping his tea at his favorite restaurant. What a nice relaxing day it was. In the distance he idly noticed a red streak coming closer and closer.

"Weird. What is that?" was poor Tekumi sensei's last thought before he was assaulted by an angry Kushina-san. By this point she had picked up more reinforcements among the kunoichi of Konoha. Poor Tekumi was swiftly knocked out, horribly beaten, and left for dead.

After Kushina and the others left him to lie broken on the floor forever dubbed a pervert Sasuke followed by Fuki and Kota came forth. Approaching slowly and cautiously Sasuke kicked their sensei in the side to see if he would move. He did not. With a nod Fuki came forward and took the wooden board from Tekumi's flak jacket. Kota put his hand on Tekumi's neck to assure himself that the man had a pulse.

"Maybe we should take him to the hospital?" Kota nervously mentioned. Sasuke and Fuki merely stared at him with raised eyebrows and Kota shrugged before muttering, "Or maybe not."

"The test is over," Sasuke muttered, "We won." Fuki nodded.

She looked at the two of them questioningly before asking, "Should we wake him?"

Sasuke shrugged in a why not expression and Kota nodded hesitantly. Fuki took out a water pouch from her pocket and proceeded to open it over Takumi's face. Both Sasuke and Kota stared at her in surprise.

"Um… you know you could have woken him up another way," Sasuke questioned. Fuki looked at him before smiling slightly and nodding.

"I know," she said.

"Oh…" was Sasuke's only response. Kota was staring at Fuki with fear and dawning respect as Takumi sensei sputtered to life.

Sasuke looked down at sensei before swinging the wooden board in his face and saying, "Hey sensei, I think we won."

It took Tekumi sensei a moment to process what was going on in front of him, but when he did his eyes widened.

"What? How… How did you?" he questioned before it dawned on him, "You sicked Namikaze-san on me!"

Sasuke grinned slightly before looking at both Fuki and Kota and saying in an innocent tone, "Now sensei, we would never do something like that. I'm hurt and astonished you would think something like that. We just happened to come upon you in this state and took the opportunity to borrow this little wooden board."

He maliciously waved it back and forth in front of Yakumi's face who sighed and then sagged with defeat.

"You're right. You win. Ugh… I have no idea how I'm going to explain this to the Hokage," he complained.

Fuki's eyes narrowed and she stepped closer to sensei in an almost threatening manner before asking angrily, "So you admit that you were supposed to fail us? That you weren't even going to give us a chance at the elites?"

Yakumi shrugged before saying, "What does it matter? You won anyways. Ugh. Let's go out for dinner to celebrate. My treat! At least then I can put off explaining this to the Hokage. I'm never going to live this down, you do realize that right?"

At that statement Kota smiled, Sasuke laughed, and Fuki merely looked pleased. They'd succeeded. They were officially going to be elites.

XXX XXX XXX

Tekuno slouched slightly as his fellow jounins snickered as he told his story. He'd expected to just come in and say his team failed, but they'd managed to surprise him and were now making him look bad and in front of all his colleagues, too. He'd kill them one day. He really would.

The Hokage nodded sagely at what he said. Before saying, "Well this presents us with a slight problem. No offense to you, Tekuno, but you are not equipped to teach three fresh genin and mold them into the elite of the elite."

Tekuno nodded easily well aware of his shortcomings. It had never been a serious expectation that he would be a jounin sensei.

"We will have to find a suitable sensei for them, then," the Hokage continued.

Hamaki, a fellow jounin, questioned urgently, "Hokage-sama you can't be seriously considering letting those three become elites, can you?"

"How can I not after their display today? Can you say anyone is more suited for the elites? They beat up a jounin sensei without even touching him once. Can you claim the same?" the Hokage asked calmly. The jounin began muttering among themselves at that. It was an impressive feat especially for kids fresh out of the academy.

After they settled down Sarutobi continued, "I will admit this is completely unprecedented. I suppose it just goes to show their talent. They will need a suitable teacher. However, I cannot just force a jounin to suddenly become a teacher. I will need at least two weeks before one will be available. In the interim, the question arises of what to do with them?"

Kurenai Yuhi spoke up then and suggested, "We could put one of them with each of our teams."

Both Kakashi and Asuma groaned at that suggestion. It would mean more work for them.

"While it's a nice idea in theory having an extra member would throw off your group dynamics and not allow the three of them to grow as a group either," Sarutobi said tiredly.

Another jounin volunteered his idea by saying, "You could send them to the ninja corps until their jounin sensei becomes available."

The Hokage nodded at that suggestion before saying, "While a nice suggestion I think their time would be better spent elsewhere. Tekuno, at least until we find their permanent sensei, would you mind training them? It would only be for a couple weeks."

The Hokage's tone brooked for no argument and reluctantly Tekuna agreed. He was really going to kill those kids one day. He really was.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own this.

Ch. 9

As Naruto avoided the kunai, which he was positive had been aimed at his head; he idly wondered just how the hell he had found himself in this situation. As if the day hadn't started suckily enough, what with Sasuke being put with a group of nobodies. How the hell had that even happened? First off, Sasuke had, throughout their time at the academy, consistently been in the top nine. Sure he was an orphan, but he was on speaking terms with the Hokage. Besides that he was Naruto Namikaze's best friend. There was no way he shouldn't have made it into the elites. How the hell had it happened?

He'd been put with some no-name jounin and some no-name genin teammates. It wasn't fair! He was supposed to be with Naruto. They were supposed to be a team together! It wasn't right! Was this some sick punishment for daring to mess with the ninja system? Ami's family was powerful in the civilian district and Naruto was a Namikaze so they were pretty much untouchable. But Sasuke was a random orphan of no importance. He could definitely be used to set an example for those who dared to go against the system.

At the very least, what should have happened was he should have been put on a team with Sakura and the tenth place classmate. However, Sakura had mysteriously disappeared immediately after lunch. Even Ino hadn't seen heads or tails of her. And her name hadn't even been called for any of the teams. What was going on? Where was Sakura? And more importantly why wasn't Sasuke in an elite team? He clearly had the skills and even the Hokage knew it. Why was he being sent to the corps?

Ami had been extraordinarily pissed about it. After Sasuke stormed out during lunch she'd refused to even acknowledge Hibachi's presence. She kept insisting that Sasuke was meant to be the third member of their team and that there'd just been some sort of mistake made. Hibachi hadn't taken that too well.

When they returned from lunch he sat on the opposite side of the room as Ami. He glared at her the whole time, but she didn't even notice. Instead, she was too busy watching Sasuke with concern. That, of course, only served to make Hibachi angrier.

It was only when Sarutobi Asuma stepped forward to collect team 10 that Hibachi turned his attention to the front.

"Hey! Wait… what about team seven?" he questioned. The jounin merely shook their heads in amusement. A couple even dared to laugh.

Asuma glanced at Hibachi before shaking his head in dismay and saying, "Sorry, kid, but you'll probably be waiting a while." He then ushered a bored looking Shikamaru, nervous Chouji, and pumped up Ino out of the room.

XXX XXX XXX

Thirty minutes had passed since the last jounin sensei had taken their team out of the room and Naruto was beginning to feel antsy. The atmosphere in the room certainly didn't help. With Sasuke no longer in the room to distract Ami, she and Hibachi had begun a glaring contest of epic proportions. Just looking at the two of them, made Naruto flinch.

In an effort to ease up tensions he began talking, "Uhhhh Kakashi is always late, you know? Maybe we should play a game while we wait?" he questioned.

The look Ami gave him froze him in his tracks. Okay. That had been a bad suggestion. Now what? If Naruto spent any more time in this room with the two of them glaring daggers at each other he thought he might faint. It was beginning to get difficult to breathe. Naruto started taking deeper and deeper breaths. Black dots were beginning to enter his vision. He needed to get out of here!

Ami gave him a strange look before suggesting, "Why don't we just leave and come back? If he's always as late as you claim he is, then we'll be back before he even arrives."

Naruto stared at her for a moment. A way to leave the stifling classroom!

"Sure!" he eagerly told her.

"Are you two idiots? We can't just leave! What if he shows up while we're gone?" Hibachi questioned angrily.

Ami sniffed at him before telling him in a superior tone, "No one invited you. If you don't want to come, you don't have to."

Hibachi stared at her in astonishment and anger as she got up to leave. She beckoned a reluctant Naruto to come with before departing. Naruto looked at Hibachi and then at the departing Ami. He looked conflicted for a moment before giving a pleading look asking for forgiveness to Hibachi, and then following after the purple haired girl.

For awhile Hibachi sat in his chair in the classroom all alone. He didn't know what to do. Should he stay here by himself or go with his teammates? He sat in thought before angrily cursing. There was no way in hell he was going to sit here for hours by himself waiting for his stupid sensei to show up while they were off having fun.

"Hey! Wait up! I'm coming, too," he shouted down the hallway to Naruto and Ami.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto, Ami, and Hibachi found themselves at the market district shopping in a slightly bored manner. Ami was still ignoring Hibachi. She directed all her questions and conversation at Naruto, who awkwardly attempted to talk to both of them. He was failing miserably, of course, and their shopping expedition was devolving into a cold terse silence. Naruto was beginning to regret the decision to leave the classroom. In fact, outside of the classroom, it seemed Ami and Hibachi were even nastier to each other.

"You know Naruto; don't you think that wearing head coverings is so cliché?" Ami asked in a bored tone. It was clearly a pointed attack at the grey handkerchief Hibachi always wore to cover his grayish brown hair. Naruto chose to say nothing as Hibachi's blue eyes narrowed angrily.

With a calm tone he turned to Naruto and said, "Girls with hair colors like purple are idiots. I mean everyone knows it's not natural. So why bother? What a fake, you know?"

Again Naruto chose to say nothing. He wasn't quite sure what the proper response to that was. Instead he chose to walk in between the two of them to make sure a fight wouldn't break out. It didn't stop them from glaring at each other over Naruto's head. They continued walking in an awkward silence. Naruto kind of wished the ground would just swallow him up.

"Yo. What cute little genin you guys are," a voice said behind them. All three genin froze before spinning around to stare at the intruder. He waved at them slightly with his right hand. In the other hand he held a little red book that he had open to a random page.

Naruto knew his mouth was hanging open in shock. All he could get out was a pathetic, "Ka… Kakashi-sensei."

Meanwhile Ami and Hibachi were looking just as horrified.

"Being late on the first day," Kakashi said shaking his head in mock disappointment before continuing, "I'll guess I'll just have to fail you cute little genin."

He smiled with his one visible eye as if he hadn't just threatened to destroy their very lives and futures. Naruto and Ami could only stare at him in a strange mix of horror and shock. They were screwed, so screwed. Hibachi, however, was already trying to dig himself out of this.

"This isn't what it looks like at all sensei!" he claimed, "I was trying to stop them from leaving! I really was! They wouldn't listen to me at all. They just kept insisting on going, but I told them we should wait for sensei. I really did! I was trying to get them to return to the classroom, just now. I promise!"

Ami visibly spun to stare at Hibachi in shock. The little fucker was throwing Naruto and her under the fucking bus. What the hell? She was going to kill him, mash his bones into dust, and tear his skin to shreds. Once she was done with him he'd wish he'd never been born. As she planned Hibachi's excruciating death, Naruto nervously rubbed the back of his hair before attempting to placate Kakashi-sensei.

"You can't really fail us, can you?" he begged, "You're late to everything yourself. Wouldn't it be hypocritical? We're just taking after our sensei, after all," Naruto attempted to reason.

Kakashi gave a perverted like giggle that disturbed all three genin a little before saying, "Well… I guess I'll give you one more chance before I fail you. Meet me at the third training ground in an hour."

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief along with Ami and Hibachi. Before leaving Kakashi turned to the team and said, "Oh… and don't be late."

He then disappeared in a pile of leaves leaving the three genin behind. Immediately Hibachi angrily rounded on the other two.

"I told you we shouldn't have left the classroom! Look what happened! This is all your fault," he argued before leaving in a huff. Both Naruto and Ami watched him leave with Ami muttering good riddance. She then turned to Naruto to begin planning their strategy to ace the test.

XXX XXX XXX

After arriving fifteen minutes early to the assigned training area the poor genin were forced to wait an hour and a half for Kakashi sensei to deign to show up. Naruto thought rather moodily that if they'd dared to show up late Kakashi would have shown up on time. Evil asshole. Naruto and Ami used the time to further discuss their strategy while Hibachi sat away from them ignoring their existence.

"The test is easy. I have two bells. There are three of you. Whoever does not have a bell after three hours will fail and be sent back to the academy. They will also not be allowed any dinner and be tied to that stump" Kakashi informed the genin. At that point all three genins' stomach rumbled. They hadn't eaten since lunch, after all.

Ami smirked. This test would be too easy. She and Naruto would work together to steal the bells from Kakashi. In the end, stupid Hibachi would be the only one without a bell. That might actually allow Sasuke to join their team after Hibachi failed.

"Come at me with the intent to kill," Kakashi claimed in a bored tone, "Begin!"

All three genin immediately disappeared. Both Ami and Naruto regrouped and began discussing a plan.

Hibachi revealed himself to Kakashi first. He started by throwing shuriken, but instead of looking alarmed Kakashi merely ignored him and pulled out his little red book from earlier. Hibachi's face narrowed into one of anger at being ignored so readily and he charged in recklessly. Kakashi seemed bored and readily defeated the young challenger without even looking up from his book.

Every kick and punch Hibachi threw was readily blocked without any effort it seemed. Smartly the brown haired boy decided to retreat. Kakashi merely yawned before asking, "Is that all you got?"

As Hibachi retreated back into the shrubbery Ami released a small genjutsu. It wouldn't do much, but it changed the enemies' perception slightly. It would cause Kakashi to believe she and Naruto were slightly farther to the left then they actually were thus leaving him full of openings in a taijutsu fight. Or at least in theory that was what it was supposed to do.

Yet, when Naruto jumped towards Kakashi with a drop kick it didn't land. Instead Kakashi blocked it before throwing Naruto back. He then went to follow with a punch to Naruto's face but Naruto wisely kawarmid with a log to escape. Clearly Kakashi had already canceled the low level genjutsu.

Ami didn't let it bother her. Instead she jumped forward and threw three kunai straight for Kakashi. However, they all missed. Kakashi looked at her with a slightly confused expression before Ami expertly pulled on the wire she had been hiding in her hand. The three kunai which had passed Kakashi shot backwards towards him cutting him into pieces.

For a moment, Ami stared at her sensei in horror thinking she had actually killed him before Naruto shouted, "Watch out! It's a trap! He just body flickered."

The warning came too late. Kakashi appeared behind Ami and whispered slightly, "You should never let your enemy get behind you."

He then punched her in the back sending her flying. With a burst of speed Naruto managed to catch her. They regained their footing and stared at Kakashi wondering exactly what the hell they should do. It was becoming increasingly obvious that they were way out of their league. Kakashi hadn't even glanced up from his book once.

With a nod of acknowledgement they both created bunshins before taking off to flank Kakashi who looked up with slight interest. As the illusions attempted to deceive Kakashi, Naruto clapped his hands together before yelling, "Wind Style: Gale Palm!"

Ami who had been standing behind him released multiple projectiles into the wind Naruto had created as planned. Due to the gale Naruto had created, the weapons were released at a rate difficult to follow much less dodge. For the first time during the fight Kakashi looked up from his book. Yet, he still dodged with no difficulty.

At this point, though, they'd expected that and Naruto had already created a bunshin which immediately henged into Ami. It was only an illusion, but hopefully Kakashi wouldn't notice.

The real Ami, using the wind as a cover, formed a seal before muttering, "Earth style: Headhunter Jutsu."

She then proceeded to disappear underground. Hoping Kakashi hadn't noticed, Naruto attacked him head on as a distraction while bunshin Ami hung back, so her status as an illusion wouldn't be revealed.

Kakashi fought off Naruto's attacks with bored indifference, before out of nowhere, Ami grabbed his legs from underground. Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise and in that moment Naruto lunged for the bells with all his might.

The area dissolved in a spray of smoke. Naruto began cursing viciously. He'd missed the bells! When the smoke cleared it revealed two Amis both who stared at each other in shock. Clearly one was fake, but as they began fighting, Naruto for the life of him could not figure out which one it was.

He couldn't help one side because he didn't know which side was his! What was he supposed to do? He didn't want to hurt Ami. Hibachi, however, didn't have that problem. Seeing that Kakashi sensei was clearly distracted by his fight with Ami and getting Naruto's wind hurled at him, he took the chance to enter the scene by fighting both Ami.

As the three fought Hibachi went to punch one of the Ami. However, she jumped out of the way and Hibachi's off balance punch hit the other Ami instead, knocking her out. Naruto swore and even Hibachi looked a little surprised, his eyes widening in astonishment. He'd hit the actual Ami. And Kakashi sensei had disappeared.

Naruto took the real Ami and retreated back into the trees quickly. It didn't take too long for her to come back to her senses. She was pretty pissed.

"That asshole! I'm supposed to be his teammate!" she complained. Naruto nodded before going back to discussing tactics on how exactly to beat Kakashi sensei. Ami, however, ignored him.

"It's impossible! We can't beat him. Not at least at our level," she told him angrily before continuing, "I wonder what Sasuke would do?"

For a moment they sat in gloomy silence before Naruto's eyes widened and he asked Ami curiously, "Hey… what would we do if Sasuke was on our team? Only two of us would be able to pass…"

"Don't be stupid! We'd make Kakashi pass all three of us as a team. There's a reason they put you in groups of three, you know!" Ami interrupted. For a moment they stared at each other before both their eyes widened as an idea hit them both at the same time.

Naruto asked, "Hey you don't think...," before continuing, "Groups are done in threes. They wouldn't pass only two of us. It would be all or none."

Ami stared at him with dawning horror in her eyes before angrily muttering, "Yet there's only two bells. He's dividing us on purpose. So, what are we supposed to do?"

Naruto looked just as conflicted. What the hell where they supposed to do now? Luckily the answer practically fell right into their lap. A ragged Hibachi appeared in their little clearing.

"I finally found you! I need your help. I can't beat him by myself," Hibachi irritably admitted to the other two genin, "And you can't beat him without me. We need to work together."

Ami nodded reluctantly before admitting, "We're a team for a reason. We should work together."

She then snarkily added, "Even if I don't like you…"

"As a team we shouldn't have let one conflict get in the way. We should have worked together from the get go," Naruto claimed, "Don't you see? That's the point of this test! To prove that even when you face adversity and tough conditions you'll still work together. That's what Konoha is all about; teamwork!"

For a moment Ami and Hibachi stared at him before they both nodded in agreement.

"I'm glad my cute little genin could figure that out," Kakashi interrupted causing the three genin to jump up in surprise. "I suppose this means you…" he drew out the pause causing the genin to stare at him with wide eyes before he said, "pass."

Ami, Naruto, and even Hibachi shared a smirk before Naruto jumped up and shouted, "Yatta boy! We're official genin! Let's go eat!"

XXX XXX XXX

Ino sat on the roof of the flower shop her family owned with Ami discussing the difference tests they'd taken the day before. They were trying to determine which one had been harder. Of course, Ami was convinced hers had been more difficult while Ino was equally sure hers had been the harder one. Eventually reaching a stale mate Ami mentioned what had been bugging her since she'd officially passed her genin test the day before.

"I wonder how Sasuke did. I hope he passed," she muttered nervously.

Ino nodded before saying confidently, "I'm sure he did!"

But there was a hint of uncertainty in her voice as she said it and Ami merely nodded gloomily. Ino glanced miserably down at the street.

"I wonder where Sakura is… What happened to her?" she questioned unhappily. Ami shrugged before sighing.

"Her name wasn't even called for a team," Ino continued, "And then she just disappeared. It was so strange…"

Ami nodded before her eyes widened and she shook Ino before pointing down at the street, "Look! It's Sakura! Sakura! Sakura! Come here!" she called.

The pink haired girl had been walking down the street dejectedly hardly paying attention to where she'd been going. When she heard Ami's voice she looked up in surprise before stopping and blinking. Slowly she made her way up to the roof of the flower shop. When she finally arrived Ino peppered her with questions about where she'd been and what had happened, but Sakura just ignored her. It was a little disturbing.

Instead Sakura asked them, "Why are we ninja?"

Both Ami and Ino stared at her in surprise and confusion before Ami sputtered out a, "What?"

Sakura looked at the two of them in an annoyed fashion before saying, "I'm serious. Why are you guys ninja?"

They both stared at her in silence. It took awhile for either of them to answer. They sat in silence thinking about it. As young kunoichi they had never really even though about it. They just were ninja.

"Well…" Ino finally said after lots of thought, "I'm a ninja because my family is all ninja. I've been expected to be a ninja my whole life. I guess I'm a ninja because it's my birth right, my job to protect Konoha and everything it stands for," Ino concluded. Sakura nodded after a moment.

She waited for Ami to answer, but Ami remained dead silent so Sakura said, "I don't know why I'm a ninja," she glanced at Ino before continuing, "I just followed you into it because you were my best friend. I didn't have a real reason."

They were quiet for awhile before Ami finally said, "I think everyone becomes a ninja for different reasons. I guess you have to come up with your own reason to become a ninja. Ino's is to protect Konoha, and I guess my reason is to protect my family. I want to be able to defend them from an attack. I think you have to figure out your own reason, Sakura."

Sakura nodded seriously before saying, "I have really good chakra control, so I'm being trained to be a medical ninja… or I was supposed to be. That's why I wasn't given a team. I was supposed to be trained under Lady Tsunade. But she asked me why I was a ninja and I couldn't tell her."

For a while they fell silent again. Ino and Ami said nothing waiting for Sakura to continue.

After faltering for a moment Sakura finally said, "She said if I didn't know why I was a ninja, then I shouldn't be one. She said I didn't have the conviction to be a ninja if I couldn't even tell her why I was a ninja. She told me not to bother coming back until I could figure out why exactly I want to be a ninja especially a medical ninja."

For a moment none of the girls said anything. Then Ino grabbed Sakura's arm and claimed, "Don't worry, Sakura! I'm sure you'll figure out why you want to be a ninja eventually! In the mean time why don't we hunt down the people in our grade and figure out what their reasons are! No problem!"

Ami nodded as well before saying, "We can start by asking my team! C'mon! Let's go!"

XXX XXX XXX

"This wasn't part of the deal! I was supposed to get three elites… not one wishy washy brat who doesn't have the guts to be a real ninja!" Tsunade complained to the third. The Sandaime massaged his temples. Dealing with any of his former students always led to some form of a headache.

"I've already told you that none of the other students were suited to be medical ninja. They either didn't have the chakra control needed or they came from a clan. Sakura has practically perfect chakra control and is a motivated bright student. I don't understand what you can complain about," Sarutobi told her.

Tsunade grunted in annoyance before crossing her hands over her chest and saying in annoyance, "She doesn't even know why she's a ninja for kami's sake. I don't want to teach her!"

The third glanced at her, "You were the one who was begging for elites to train, Tsunade. She's young. Give her time. Guide her in the right direction. I'm sure under your tutelage she can become something great. I'm sure one day she will come to understand and embrace the will of fire."

Tsunade grumbled slightly and glanced around the third's office in annoyance.

"I don't know why I let that brat drag me back to this god forsaken place," she complained bitterly. The Sandaime laughed lightly. Tsunade wasn't, after all, being serious.

After Kushina's forced leave or as she liked to think of it, vacation time, he had decided it was high time Tsunade returned from her retirement. They finally had the peace that had seemed impossible back during the Second Shinobi War and Tsunade's idea of a medical corps had become a realistic possibility. However, getting Tsunade to return had seemed like an impossibility in itself. That is until Kushina had volunteered.

It had been Kushina's die hard insistence and belief in the Hokage's position that had finally convinced Tsunade to return, that, and the offer to pay off all her gambling debts. She had, of course, used Jiraiya to find the otherwise impossible to locate Tsunade. But it had taken more than that to get Tsunade to return. Luckily Kushina had always been one of those people whose refusal to give up could out last even Tsunade's stubborn streak. There was also the fact that Tsunade's dream of a medical corps was a real possibility. However, Kushina made Tsunade excruciatingly aware that such a project could not come to fruition unless Tsunade herself ran it.

In the end Tsunade had decided despite her misgivings to officially return to Konoha. Upon her return the Sandaime had begun picking out ninja suited for medical jutsu and sending them to be trained by Tsunade to become part of the medical corps. However, most if not all of these ninja came from the ninja corps. So, Tsunade had insisted on a group of three elite genin to train. Instead, she had gotten Sakura. She was pissed to say the least.

However, Tsunade's visit was interrupted by the timely arrival of Uchiha Shisui reporting back from his latest mission. For a moment Shisui seemed uncertain if he should come into the room but the Sandaime waved him in anyways. It was a clear indication to Tsunade that their conversation was over. She huffed in annoyance before leaving angrily muttering about perverted old men who didn't understand the importance of medical jutsu. The Sandaime dutifully ignored her.

XXX XXX XXX

It had taken Naruto a full two days to locate and find the elusive Sasuke. He had found out from his mom that Sasuke had passed his test and come to see Naruto after passing, which Naruto thought was a little suspicious. Sasuke never voluntarily went to see him. In fact, it was Naruto who always hunted down Sasuke.

Due to that Naruto was well aware of Sasuke's normal haunts. Yet, he couldn't find Sasuke in any of them. It was beginning to creep him out a little truth be told. Ami was worried, as well. So today, they'd left their respective houses bright and early to drop by Sasuke's place hoping he'd be in.

He was. And surprisingly when he answered the door he was already actually dressed and ready. Ami and Naruto could only stare at him in shock.

Finally Ami said, "You're actually dressed… and up. You know what time it is, right Sasuke? You're not sick are you?"

She sounded really concerned and everything. Sasuke wasn't a morning person. And it was really early. Ami could stop by four hours later than now and normally Sasuke would complain about her waking him. She actually used to do it just for kicks.

But this Sasuke looked awful. He looked tired. His pale face looked paler, if that were possible, and dark bags were visible below his black eyes. He was slouching, too, which made him look even more exhausted.

"My sensei is evil," is all he said as he ushered them into his apartment, "I have to meet my team in a half hour at training ground five."

"Wow! That's really early. Our sensei is nothing like that!" Naruto told him in surprise.

Ami gloomily nodded in agreement before saying, "Our sensei doesn't show up until like noon. I don't think we've done anything at all this week. Just one or two D-rank. He's such a lazy ass."

Sasuke merely shrugged moodily. He didn't seem too interested in conversation. Instead, he wandered around his kitchen sluggishly making himself scrambled eggs. He then poured himself a glass of milk before plopping down to eat. He didn't offer anything to his two house guests. As he ate Naruto and Ami continued to complain about their evil perverted lazy sensei.

Eventually Sasuke tiredly interrupted, "That doesn't sound that bad. Tekumi sensei's evil. We embarrassed him and made him look bad during the test, so now he's making us pay. We work from dawn to midnight doing D-ranks and when he thinks we're not trying hard enough he makes us run all over Konoha. Sometimes he sicks other jounin or chunin ninja on us just to show he can. Other times he makes us do pushup, situps, punches, blocks, and kicks until we can't even move. He claims it's to improve our endurance. Really he's just trying to kill us."

Sasuke said it all extremely matter of factly as if he were discussing the weather. Naruto and Ami stared at him in shock.

Ami looked horrified before she muttered, "That sounds awful…"

Naruto, on the other hand, just shrugged before asking, "Are you getting faster or better? It could be a great way to get you stronger. Maybe your sensei is trying to make you into the best ninja as fast as possible!"

Sasuke stared at him for a moment as did Ami. Was Naruto serious?

"Trust me, Naruto. He's not doing it for my benefit. He's evil… evil… evil," Sasuke said before continuing, "He's not my real sensei, though. We're going to get our official one in like a week or so."

For a moment awkward silence reigned as neither Ami or Naruto knew quite what to say to that. However, it was broken by Sasuke muttering, "Thank god."

He glared at his clock for a moment before groaning and saying, "I have to go… I'll see you guys later, I guess. Bye."

It was clearly the cue for Ami and Naruto to leave, but they just sat there in shock staring at him. Sasuke looked at them, looked at the clock, and shrugged.

"I'm leaving. Don't eat my food and close and lock the door after you. Bye," Sasuke told them. With that said he then left.

After five minutes had passed Ami turned to Naruto and said, "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but thank god for Kakashi sensei. It could be worse."

Naruto just nodded in agreement. Sasuke's sensei sounded scary.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own this.

Ch. 10

The Sandaime was positive this was not a conversation he would enjoy. In fact, he'd been putting off naming a sensei for Team 12 as long as possible just so he could avoid this very thing. Jiraiya stood in his office practically fuming at the Sandaime's actions. It should have been impossible for Jiraiya to even know by now; Sarutobi thought sadly. Yet, somehow even before Sarutobi had named their new sensei Jiraiya had known. He'd known team 12 had been moved into the elites. Well, he wasn't Konoha's spy master for nothing, but it was slightly annoying and even worrying to realize exactly how much Jiraiya actually knew.

"I told you, old man! Why would you do something like this?" the irate toad sage asked. Sarutobi, for his part, sighed unhappily as he smoked his pipe. The only thing to do was to wait the rant out and hope he could make Jiraiya see that it had been for the best. The rant continued on for some minutes but the third merely tuned in and out. He idly wondered if the voice that had just screamed was Konohomaru's. Was he going to be sneak attacked again? Really, Ebisu needed to keep a better eye on the boy.

Bored with that old train of thought, he glanced out the window. The sight of the mountain greeted him. He squinted. Was someone climbing on the mountain? Kami he hoped not. He could already imagine the paperwork if the poor idiot fell. Wait was that Maito Gai? What did he think he was doing? Hopefully, it wasn't some new training exercise he'd thought up. Well, at the very least there wouldn't be any paperwork to be done. Gai wouldn't be stupid enough to fall. Of course, if he tried to climb the mountain while he was exhausted, it'd be a different story. Hmm, it could be Gai's little prodigy, instead. It was quite hard to tell the difference between the two especially from far away. He shuddered at the image of the bowl cut, shining teeth, and gigantic eyebrows. Ugh, new thought. He glanced around his office for inspiration.

Instead, he was brought out of his musings by Jiraiya's irate yell, "Are you even listening? If I didn't know better I'd say you were trying to get the kid killed!"

The Sandaime's eyes narrowed. His student had officially crossed the line. Jiraiya seemed to realize his mistake, as well, because he quickly attempted to back track.

"Ahh. That's not what I meant! Of course you don't wanna get the kid killed. It's just with the threat of akatsuki, well… didn't we agree it'd be best to keep the kid in the background? If he's an elite that's never going to happen. They'll know about him within a heartbeat," Jiraiya argued.

The Sandaime shook his head lightly before saying, "Even in the elites it'll take them years to realize that Sasuke's the container and in that time he'll get some of the best training. At least, this way when they come he'll be able to defend himself."

Jiraiya didn't look convinced, "Why the sudden change in heart, huh old man? You agreed with me fine just a couple of weeks ago. The kid's a disaster waiting to happen. Even with some of the best training, in a couple years he still won't stand a chance against an S-ranked missing nin much less two of them."

"Which is where you come in, Jiraiya, I want you to train team twelve," Sarutobi matter of factly told him. Jiraiya stared at him dumbfounded.

For a moment there was dead silence before an angry, "No."

The Sandaime shrugged. He honestly hadn't expected his student to say yes, anyways. It would have been nice, sure, if he had and removed a burden from him, but wasn't really expected. The only person Jiraiya would deem to train now a days was Naruto and only because he was Minato's son. Jiraiya had mentioned something about a child of prophecy that he would train, so he was unlikely to risk training anyone else he couldn't completely trust. It was annoying, true, but it had been asked as more of a spur of the moment thing, so Sarutobi didn't care that much. Unfortunately, he had no sensei in mind for the terrible trio, as the jounin had begun to dub them.

The team was rather famous around town and not just for setting Kushina on an innocent, although that had helped. Instead, they'd gained a reputation of being not just efficient, but ruthless. They had set the record for most D-rank missions committed in both a day and a week. Yet, at the same time they had begun an all out attack on the chunin, jounin, and anbu of Konoha. Everything from eggs to ramen had been used in their variety of vicious pranks. It was interesting to note that the ninjas who were attacked were also the one's Kanden had set on the team to "help them improve". It was a clear warning not to mess with them. And yet at the same time, even more ninja kept volunteering to help Kanden get revenge on the brats for embarrassing him and their friends. Thus, a vicious circle had developed. The team pranked those who made their training hell, so more people joined to make their training hell to get revenge for the pranks.

Besides that the civilians were absolutely terrified of the team. It probably didn't help that they walked around like the living dead looking more like zombies than ninja. And the rumors about what the kunoichi did to those who crossed her didn't help at all. Really it was high time he gave them a new sensei, hopefully, before they antagonized everyone in Konoha.

He glanced at his perverted student before saying tiredly, "Please send Tsunade to my office Jiraiya, preferably before you head to the hot springs."

XXX XXX XXX

Being called to the Hokage's office, Sasuke had to admit, was a bit of a relief. Hopefully, the Hokage had a new sensei for them. Serving under Kanden had not been fun. Boy, the guy could hold a grudge.

It had been Fuki's idea to turn to pranks to get revenge, which had spectacularly backfired, but by then they were too far in to stop. Ever since Fuki had poured water on their sensei to wake him up a new ruthless streak had developed. Sasuke was pretty sure Kota was genuinely terrified of her. In fact, he shuddered whenever she appeared out of nowhere. She had then made it a point to sneak up on him as often as possible. The only reason their team was known as ruthless had to be Fuki. Kota couldn't hurt a fly even if he really wanted to. What was he doing being a ninja, really? And Sasuke, well, Sasuke was just way too tired to actually plot vengeance like Fuki did. Their sensei had decided that his embarrassment was mainly Sasuke's fault and so Sasuke had been the one to pay the most.

In an odd sort of way, though, Naruto had been right. There was nothing like running from an enraged jounin trying to murder you that caused you to get faster, stronger, and smarter. Still Sasuke couldn't really appreciate these changes as he was far too tired to really care and it was not like Kanden had really taught them any new jutsu anyways. Kota seemed to agree. For the first time since they had officially become genin his signature bounce was back in his step.

"Who do you think it'll be?" the brown haired boy happily questioned. Sasuke was too tired to answer and didn't even look up from staring at the ground. A nasty smirk developed on Fuki's face, though.

With what sounded like perfect innocence to an outside observer, but not to Sasuke she answered, "Well… I'm not really sure. You know, we are known as the most ruthless genin team in all of Konoha, so I guess they'd put us with the most ruthless jounin, too."

Before she could continue Kota interrupted her. His eyes had widened in fear and he had frozen in place. He asked desperately, "Don't you'd think they'd give us the kindest nicest most nonruthless jounin to balance it out?"

Kota was practically begging and Fuki's lips twitched upwards in amusement at his desperation. Even Sasuke had to admit Kota's gullibility was a little amusing.

"Well…. I don't think so," Fuki chirped happily before continuing, "They wouldn't want us turning their nicest jounin evil, would they? They'll probably give us… uhhhh… what was her name again? Sasuke, do you remember?"

Sasuke glanced at her. To play along or not to play along? That was the question. Fuki probably didn't really need any more encouragement, but then again Sasuke hadn't done anything fun in days. Serving under Kanden sucked.

"Snake lady or crazy lady," he answered in a deadpan. Kota started hyperventilating. They'd been heading towards the Hokage's office, but now he began backing up. His eyes had widened even more if that were possible and his nails were digging into his hand. Sasuke couldn't be sure, but it looked like they were drawing blood.

Fuki burst into laughter. Sasuke couldn't help it himself. The stress of the past days had taken their toll and it was so nice to know that finally the ordeal was over. He burst into laughter, too.

"You guys suck," Kota said after a moment, "I really thought you were serious. I was seeing my death. Oh kami, if we actually have the snake lady I'm totally blaming you guys. Believe it!"

Both Fuki and Sasuke shared a look. If they had the crazy lady somebody would die. They just wanted a nice normal well adjusted jounin sensei, who wouldn't make their lives hell. As they continued walking towards the Hokage's office, Sasuke idly wondered if such people even existed.

XXX XXX XXX

The young blond lady with the gigantic boobs had been a welcome relief to see upon entering the Hokage's office. As the team had gotten closer and closer to the building their fear of their new sensei had grown and grown. What if they really had the crazy lady? What if they had someone worse? Did someone worse even exist? That had been answered when they'd nearly run into a man wearing a green spandex suit. He'd been screaming something about a flower of youth. It'd been fairly scarring and they'd quickly hurried away. Sasuke vaguely recalled what Ami and Naruto had claimed about their jounin sensei. Were they all insane?

It seemed so. Their new jounin instructor had turned her eyes on them and asked in a completely annoyed voice, "These are the brats you expect me to train? I doubt they could find their way out of a paper bag!"

All three of their eyes had narrowed at the lady in anger. But the Sandaime had seemed unbothered. Instead, he'd merely nodded and waved them on their way. It had not been an auspicious beginning.

The blond lady had taken them to a clearing with three logs in it and a memorial. The whole time going there she had mumbled about perverted old men who didn't understand the intricacies of medicine. Sasuke idly wondered about her mental health. With a huff she sat down and claimed, "I'm Tsunade of the sannin."

Sasuke had stared at her. There was no way she was a sannin. The sannin were old, and well, she wasn't. He and his teammates looked at each other in disbelief, but none of them voiced their clear skepticism. They'd seen enough insane jounin to decide it wasn't worth the risk. If she was insane enough to think she was Tsunade then they'd let her think that. It didn't really hurt them in the long run anyway. Kami save them, though, for when they ran into the real Tsunade. Sasuke doubted she'd take too happily to an impersonator.

The blond lady "Tsunade" continued, "I don't really care about your names brats. Just tell me why you became ninja. Got it?"

Sasuke's eyebrows rose. That was kind of a personal question. Did she really expect them to just answer it for her? Since she sat there just glaring at them waiting for an answer, he had to assume so. He glared back. Fuki picked the grass and refused to look at their new sensei. Kota looked around and noting that neither of his teammates was going to speak decided to start.

"I'm a ninja because my mom told me to be!" Kota claimed with a thumbs up and glittering eyes. Fuka snorted and Tsunade turned to look at her.

Her gaze was icy when she asked, "If you think his reason is stupid then what's yours?"

Kota shivered and Sasuke groaned; another scary female for Fuki to act like. He made a note to never ever allow his new sensei and Ami to meet. That would be a disaster. Fuki, though, wasn't intimidated at all. For the first time that day she made eye contact with their sensei. They seemed to be having some sort of stare down. The tension was unbearable. After about a minute of the two just staring at each other, Sasuke had had enough. He irritably coughed hoping to get at least one of their attention. Instead, he found himself the recipient of two icy stares. Well, that had been a bad idea. Fuki looked him up and down before finally making a decision.

"I'm a ninja because ninjas have power. They can shape and change the world for the better or the worse in a way a civilian never could," she claimed with passion. She gave Tsunade a look that dared her to contradict. Tsunade stared at her for a moment with a slight frown on her face. It was hard to tell if she liked Fuki's reason or not. Instead, she turned to Sasuke for his response.

Kota frowned slightly before interjecting, "Hey wait! You didn't say if you wanted to change the world for the better or worse. You just said you wanted to change it!"

A pout had appeared on his face as he asked. Sasuke noted that even the fake sannin looked interested in Fuki's answer. In response, Fuki's eyebrows raised before she condescendingly sniffed.

"I'll have to wait and see if I like the world, won't I, before I decide if I want to change it for the better or worse. Why bother helping a world that can never be saved? You might, as well, just take what you want, if that's the case," she claimed angrily. Sasuke stared at her. Was she serious? Tsunade looked very uneasy with the answer and Kota looked horrified. The two looked away eventually, but Sasuke was still staring. Fuki slowly smirked at him before winking.

Oh thank the kami. She was just kidding. Power probably wasn't her reason for being a ninja, after all. She just hadn't wanted to tell the sensei her real reason. But why would she hide her real reason? Maybe it was really personal? Unless, of course she had merely winked because she'd thought Sasuke was the only one who'd understood why she'd want the power to do whatever she wanted. Oh crap. Maybe Fuki really was power hungry. But then again when she'd winked it had seemed like she was laughing at a joke. Had she winked just to mess with Sasuke?

He was thrown out of his worries about if Fuki was actually evil or not or simply messing with him by Tsunade's exclamation of, "So? What's your reason, Uchiha?"

Sasuke blinked. Uchiha? Wow, their jounin sensei really was confused. First, she thought she was Tsunade and then she thought Sasuke was an Uchiha. He would have been extremely angry if anyone else had accidentally called him an Uchiha, but it was pretty clear their jounin sensei wasn't all there. Maybe he should go talk to the Hokage about this? Was she really fit to be a jounin instructor?

He knew his reason well enough. He'd become a ninja to gain acknowledgement, but saying that out loud would be kind of embarrassing. His jounin sensei had lied about who she was, although maybe not quite intentionally, so Sasuke could lie as well.

"Power," he claimed. He didn't bother acknowledging the Uchiha part. She was just a little confused. No need to confuse her more by explaining. She looked truly horrified by his answer and Kota seemed to realize that both Fuka and he had lied. At least, they thought Fuka had lied. They weren't positive. In fact, Kota began banging his head on the ground in annoyance at the two of them. Sasuke smirked slightly at that before looking over at Fuki who looked amused. He winked. Two people could play at this game, after all.

It took awhile for Tsunade to regain her composure. Clearly she hadn't liked their answers at all.

Instead, she said, "There's no way I can take you guys on as a team,"

She looked pissed. Sasuke stared at her. Was she serious? He hadn't thought his answer would antagonize her so badly. Even Fuki looked a little panicked.

"The reason people are ninja is so they can protect those precious to them! Didn't they teach you about the will of fire in the academy? From what I see none of you have it! I can't possibly take you guys on," she angrily told them. Fuki deflated and Sasuke stared at the ground. She got up to leave.

Kota stared at her retreating back for a moment before yelling, "You asked us why we became ninja, and we had the wrong answer. I'm sure at one point you did, too. But people's answers change. Help us change ours!"

Tsunade froze. She didn't turn around, but she released the fist she had been clenching to her side.

"Meet me at training ground five tomorrow at eight," she said softly before walking away. Sasuke stared at her in shock. Fuki's mouth was gaping open before she turned to look at Koto.

"I think I love you," she told him. Koto blushed lightly, but he looked pleased with himself. Sasuke gave him a nod of acknowledgement before the three of them left the training ground. It was time to catch up on some much needed sleep.

XXX XXX XXX

"None of them had the will of fire," Tsunade told the Sandaime gravely. He looked at her for a moment before sighing tiredly. It was late at night and this was just one more bad thing to top off a too long day.

"So, I should find a different instructor?" he asked. Tsunade looked at him for a moment biting her lip in indecision.

Her brown eyes were deep in thought before she answered, "Probably, but not yet. One of the kids made a pretty good point. I'm going to teach those brats how to be proper Shinobi of the leaf. One day in the near future they're going to have the right answer. But I'm not going to teach them how to be medics. They don't deserve that nor would they make suitable medics. For Kami's sake the Uchiha said he became a ninja for power. Find a different sensei for them for later. For now, I'm going to drill the will of fire into them," She angrily told him. Sarutobi stared. There was no way Tsunade had picked up the wrong team. He'd seen them delivered to her. So, why would she think there was an Uchiha on her team?

"You didn't have an Uchiha on your team. Didn't you look over the files I gave you on them?" he asked in annoyance.

Tsunade gave a guilty start before muttering, "Uhhhhh….. no? Well… one of them looked like an Uchiha, so I assumed he was. He didn't correct me or anything."

"Was it Sasuke?" the old man asked.

Again Tsunade gave a guilty start before muttering, "Uhh….. I didn't learn their names?"

Sarutobi stared at her for a moment. Maybe it wasn't wise to give her a team. She already had the corps and Sakura. Of course she didn't want the team long term, just to drill the will of fire into them. Perhaps he'd give the team to Itachi. It was a prerequisite to be Hokage and perhaps the only thing standing between the boy and the Hokage's hat. He might as well fix that in case he came to an unexpected end. Jiraiya, Tsunade, or even Kakashi as Hokage was a scary thought. Also, he was starting to run out of options for Team 12. Why couldn't they have just gone to the corps like good little ninja?

Sasuke's answer was also disturbing. For Sasuke to be chasing power was worrying. Did he care about the people in this village, at all? Maybe it was a good thing Tsunade could knock some sense into him. And the fact that he didn't correct her on calling him an Uchiha was also strange. Normally Sasuke would take offense to that. Did he know the truth? What would that mean for the village? He hadn't felt this anguished about his decisions in Sasuke's life since four years ago when Namikaze Kushina had reported that the boy had accessed the fox's chakra. He had to trust in Minato's seal, but sometimes it was hard. There was the constant worry in the back of his mind that the fox would escape and Uchiha Sasuke would be the cause.

XXX XXX XXX

"I refuse," Itachi told him calmly. Sarutobi stared at the boy wordlessly. He had assumed Itachi would jump at the opportunity. Sometimes Itachi was so hard to predict. He supposed that trait would make him a Hokage to be feared in the other nations, but right now it was simply frustrating. Why would none of his ninja do what he wanted? First Jiraiya, then Tsunade, and now Itachi. He was running out of options. Anko kept dropping hints that she wouldn't mind the terrible trio, but that combination seemed likely to destroy the village.

He needed to relax. Anko would not be getting them. There were still plenty of options. He'd try to convince Itachi and if that didn't work there were always Shisui and god forbid Kushina. She'd at least be better than Anko, but not by much. No, he'd convince Itachi and that'd be that. But just in case that didn't work out, who else could possibly take on a genin team? Maybe Ibiki? But, no if he did that he might as well be giving them to Anko. Kami knew Ibiki would just dump them on her. Hmmm… He'd just have to find a way to make Itachi agree. It couldn't be that hard, right?

"So why exactly are you opposed to taking on a genin team?" Sarutobi began.

XXX XXX XXX

It was Sasuke's first time leaving the village and it was hard to keep his excitement in check. Yesterday, Tsunade had announced that they were taking a C-rank mission outside of the village. It was their first C-rank and all three of them had been rearing to go. They'd all arrived at the West gate of the village bright and early, but Tsunade had merely looked at them with amusement. Apparently she didn't see how it was a big deal to leave the village. But it was okay, Sasuke, wouldn't let her smug amusement ruin his day. This was awesome, damnit! Their mission consisted of delivering a message from the leaf village to sand concerning the upcoming chunnin exam that the leaf was hosting. Sasuke didn't understand why they couldn't just send a courier bird, but he wasn't complaining. They'd gotten their first big mission!

They'd been working with Tsunade for about a week or so since their first meeting. On the first day she'd made it clear that she was only their temporary sensei meant to teach them what it meant to be a leaf Shinobi. Yet, since then she'd never clarified what she was actually going to do to get them there. Sure, she might vaguely mention the will of fire or protecting precious people, but besides that she didn't say much. In fact, she was almost as bad as Kanden. Not quite, but almost. She also had a strange obsession with memorizing their names which Sasuke had thought was a little weird especially since she hadn't cared at all before.

They'd spent the whole week getting large balls chucked at them to work on their endurance or speed or some such bull shit. It probably had helped their teamwork a little as they'd gotten used to saving each other from Tsunade's huge punches and attacks. Sasuke would admit that much. But it didn't really help them understand why they were ninja or any such thing. The only improvements from Kanden's training to Tsunade's was they no longer had to do those annoying d-rank missions and they actually got a decent amount of sleep. They managed to look halfway presentable. Still, it wasn't quite as much sleep as Sasuke would've liked, but he could deal. Oh why couldn't Kakashi have been his sensei? Then he could've slept until noon every day.

Still, Sasuke was grateful for the little improvements in their training, which was why when a devilish look had started appearing in Tsunade's eyes whenever she looked at the three of them, Sasuke had begun to worry. It was clear she was planning something. But with each day that passed with Tsunade's plan not revealing itself, Sasuke began to let his guard down more and more. It was possible he was just imagining it.

Yet, as they walked out of the village she practically reeked of mischievous intent. Sasuke began to have a very bad feeling about this mission. He glanced at his teammates both who hadn't seemed to notice. Fuki was pointing out which plants where which to a humming Kota, who was only half listening. The other part of him was reaching out sensing the chakra all around him. He was fast turning into a great chakra sensor. So, Sasuke continued walking without saying anything now in a dark mood. He could feel Tsunade's evil smirk burning into his back as they continued along the path. It was only a matter of time before this mission went straight to hell, he was sure.

XXX XXX XXX

It was midday when they stopped walking. They hadn't made that much progress in reaching sand largely because you really couldn't go all that fast just walking on the trail and Tsunade had had enough.

"Ugh! This'll take forever if we just walk. Don't you brats know tree walking?" she asked in annoyance. Sasuke scowled at her. Of course they knew tree walking. Did she think they were idiots? They hadn't learned it from Kanden, though. It's not like Kanden had bothered to teach them anything. He'd more just tried to kill them. Who knew being forever dubbed a pervert could make someone go crazy? Instead, it had been one of the techniques in Sasuke's scroll. So, he had taught it to the summer class. Sure, Sasuke had never per say mastered it much like all the other chakra control exercises, but he could do it. Well… he could do it, sort of.

Fuki had looked up at Tsunade horrified before questioning, "You mean we could have been doing that the whole time?"

Tsunade face palmed.

"I really hate genin sometimes," she unhappily muttered. Kota didn't really seem affronted by her words instead looking up at the trees nervously.

His face was starting to pale before he asked mortified, "You really want us to jump from tree to tree?"

Tsunade gave him a look that could only be interpreted as yes.

"But… but I'm scared of heights," Kota wailed. Sasuke stared at him in shock while Fuki rolled her eyes. Tsunade simply went back to mumbling about how much she hated genin.

It had taken half an hour but they had finally gotten Kota up into the trees and over his fear of falling. It probably would have gone faster if Sasuke's chakra hadn't kept flaring at the most inopportune times causing him to fall from whatever tree branch he'd attached himself to. Fuki kept snickering at him and Tsunade merely rolled her eyes at his awkward falls. It wasn't very good for Kota's confidence, but it made Sasuke determined to master the skill. This was of course harder said than done. But, after two days of traveling by tree tops Sasuke was pretty sure he had it mastered. He'd been spurred on by the fact that halfway through the second day Kota had begun doing flips off of the trees and other crazy stunts like they were nothing. Clearly he had conquered his fear.

Tsunade had been leading the way the whole time and Sasuke was beginning to get a little confused. It was the third day, so shouldn't they have at least started to see some sand? Instead, they were still surrounded by trees. Fuki and Kota were just as confused. When they thought Tsunade couldn't hear they began discussing the strangeness.

"I'm not really sure, but whenever I've looked at a map I'm pretty sure sand is in the opposite direction," Fuki had whispered. Sasuke nodded in agreement. Due to his photographic memory he could remember the map in excruciating detail and he was pretty sure, as well, that they were heading in the completely wrong direction.

Kota frowned slightly too before suggesting, "Maybe she's just bad at directions? I think we've been going in circles."

"No one's that bad at directions," Fuka claimed with a snort. Sasuke wasn't so sure.

"I don't know. I mean she thinks she's one of the sannin. Clearly she's off her rocker. Is it that far of a stretch to think she has absolutely no sense of direction?" he questioned. For a moment the three of them shared a look before shrugging. Who knew what the crazy blonde lady was capable of?

"Hey brats! Enough of your diddle daddling. We're almost there!" Tsunade called to them. Again they shared a look. They totally weren't almost there. Sasuke had a bad feeling about this.

As they jumped through the trees the feeling of impending doom began to increase. Something bad was going to happen; he could feel it. He quickly sped up his jumps so he could be side to side with Tsunade. Something was terribly wrong and Sasuke needed to warn her. However, Tsunade dismissed his fears without thought.

"I'm one of the sannin Sasuke, no one's going to dare attack us!" she claimed which really didn't make Sasuke feel any better. Instead, Tsunade told him he should be pleased they had managed to get such a good first mission.

"I suppose we could be attacked to get the information we're transferring," She eventually conceded, "but with me around no one would dare."

Sasuke stared at her. It was official. They were going to be attacked.

XXX XXX XXX

For a while after that they continued hopping through the trees in silence. For some reason something felt seriously wrong, but Sasuke simply couldn't put his finger on it. Something was just off. Looking around his eyes narrowed. Hadn't they just passed that tree? Maybe it was just a coincidence that it had the same markings as a tree from earlier? Before he could ponder it any further he was interrupted by a pale, nervous looking Kota.

Kota worriedly claimed, "Hey you guys. There's a weird chakra sig-,"

He didn't finish as the quiet forest burst into noise. Fire erupted around them and shuriken darted from the trees with no warning. A masked figure leapt towards them, but Tsunade intercepted him with a fist. The shuriken which she had dodged in favor of assaulting their attacker flew past her, towards the three genin, who had been in mid tree jump. Unlike Tsunade they didn't have the time or even the skill to switch their momentum so swiftly. There was no way they could dodge. Instead, they were stuck flying through the air towards their looming deaths. Sasuke panicked and in a desperate move, he grabbed Fuki, who was closest to him, and kicked off of her much like one of the stunts they had used during Tsunade's insane training to quickly get out of the danger zone.

Sasuke flew hard into a tree and winced at the impact. It felt like one of his ribs had cracked. He hadn't planned that out too well. He'd only seen the shuriken and a paralyzing fear had overtaken him. He hadn't thought at all. Hopefully, Fuki had been propelled in the other direction and escaped the barrage. He quickly looked around to assess the situation. He wasn't sure exactly where Fuki was, but he could see Kota. His heart stopped.

Kota's leap had put him directly in the path of the projectiles with no way to escape. And he knew it, too. His eyes were filled with pure horror even as he desperately tried to do the hand signs for a kawarmi. He'd panicked upon facing his first life threatening situation and completely forgotten about the kawarmi until the last moment, much like Sasuke. In a life and death situation in which all he had was half a second or less, most of which he'd wasted before remembering the simple jutsu that could save his life, he simply wasn't fast enough. Fuki probably could have done it. She wouldn't have panicked in that situation. She was level headed and never let anything get to her; Sasuke realized. Why hadn't Sasuke performed the maneuver with Kota? Fuki could have saved herself. It was all Sasuke's fault. He should have realized. But he'd panicked. And he'd just grabbed the person closest to him, and not the person who needed it the most. Kota was going to die because of him.

In a last ditch attempt to save his friend Sasuke desperately leapt out of the tree to push Kota out of the way attempting to ignore the burning sensation in his chest. He was too late. His jump, which had been impeded by his cracked ribs, fell short, but it didn't matter anyway.

Even before Sasuke had jumped a shuriken had slashed right into Kota's neck. The boys' wide eyes were all Sasuke could see as blood splurted out of the wound. He made a strangled gurgling sound before falling deathly silent. Barely a moment later, the projectiles hit his legs and arms causing blood to splatter everywhere. He fell lifelessly towards the ground blood dripping freely from his wounds. He hit the ground with a dull thump and made no move to get back up.

Sasuke could only stare at Kota's body in shock from the tree he was perched on. He couldn't be…. could he? He'd just been alive one second ago. There was no way he was dead. Sasuke refused to believe it. Kota was his friend. Kota couldn't die. It just wasn't possible. At least not like that. There was supposed to be some warning. This couldn't happen! It wasn't allowed. Kota would get up and jump up into the tree any second now. Sasuke just had to wait. He'd come back. He knew it.

He was transfixed waiting for Kota's white pale body to get back up. It had to, right? Kota couldn't die. It wasn't right. It wasn't allowed! He didn't even notice as kunai flew out of the forest towards him or as Tsunade got sliced in two by a katana. Why wasn't Kota getting up? It wasn't until a body slammed into him and pushed him under the barrage of kunai that he snapped back into reality. Fuki was staring at him desperately her eyes wide in shock.

"Kota's not dead is he? He can't be. It's not allowed," Sasuke pleaded desperately. His only answer was Fuka's pale haunted face. This couldn't be happening. Fuka was staring past him at something on the ground. Sasuke turned to look. It was Kota, except it wasn't Kota. Sasuke stared at the body for a moment. It was twisted and broken from the landing and Sasuke felt the enormous need to heave.

Kota was dead. He could feel tears trailing down his face. He'd do anything to go back and undue this. He needed to save Kota. Kota wasn't supposed to be able to die. He was young and innocent and he was Sasuke's friend. And yet, someone had killed him. An unspeakable rage filled Sasuke. Kota was dead. Kota, who had had never done anything to deserve it. He'd been innocent and now he was dead. It wasn't allowed. It wasn't right. He'd kill them for what they'd done. They'd pay.

Red clouded Sasuke's vision and a deep hollow voice laughed in the back of his head. Sasuke didn't care. There he was. The masked figure, who had killed Kota, and now held a bloody katana. A katana covered in Tsunade's blood. Sasuke leapt. The figure never stood a chance. One moment he was alive and about to hunt his next victim and the next his head had been brutally ripped off by Sasuke's claws. Blood splurted everywhere, but still Sasuke wasn't appeased. He ripped the figure limb from limb until there was nothing left. Yet, the anger never faded.

He turned to find his next prey. He needed to kill, to tear, to destroy. There his prey was. She was hiding from him, cowering. Smart little prey. She realized what he could do, what he would do. He stalked forward menacingly delighting in the prey's fear. A maniacal laugh escaped him.

"Sasuke…?" the prey whispered her eyes wide with fear. For a moment Sasuke froze. Something was wrong here. He tried to shake the feeling off, but it wouldn't completely go away. Didn't he know this person? There was something vaguely familiar about the spiky auburn hair and terrified brown eyes. Who was it? What was going on?

"Fuki?" he questioned. She turned her head up sharply to look at him. Sasuke stared back at her in shock. What had he been doing? He'd been about to attack Fuki! Had he lost his mind? Slowly the red chakra faded from his body. The claws disappeared and his eyes turned back to their normal black color. He staggered a little from the exhaustion that overtook him.

But before he passed out he said, "I'm sorry."

XXX XXX XXX

When Sasuke came to it was in a hospital room. He ached everywhere and it felt like his body would never move again. He found himself looking into the stern gaze of Tsunade.

His eyes widened before he exclaimed, "But you're dead!"

She gave him a disappointed look but before she could say anything someone else burst into the room.

"Sasuke! You're awake! Thank the kami. It was really scary; I was dead! And then you got covered in that red chakra." Kota exclaimed. Sasuke could only stare at him in shock.

He started hyperventilating slightly before asking, "Am I dead?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course not. I put you three in a genjutsu so you'd come to understand the will of fire," Tsunade claimed. Sasuke stared at her blankly in astonishment before he processed exactly what she had just said.

His eyes flashed as he angrily asked, "You mean you put us through all that for some sick test? I thought Kota had died! Died! Why would you do something like that?"

Tsunade didn't look the least bit repentant. Instead, her eyes were icy cold. But before she could respond another voice interrupted.

"Sasuke, why are you a ninja?" Fuki asked. Her eyes were tired and haunted looking, but she met Sasuke's eyes with a fearless look. Kota nodded his agreement to Fuki's statement, but Sasuke could only look between the two of them in confusion. What did this have to do with anything? He was a ninja because he was a ninja, damnit.

"There's no way I'm ever letting any of you guys die again," he claimed angrily. Fuki's eyebrows raised and Kota smiled faintly.

Tsunade looked smug before saying, "Exactly. You guys have the will of fire now."

Sasuke stared at them in confusion. The will of fire, now? He didn't understand. Instead, he just felt angry and betrayed. What was going on?

"A leaf Shinobi is not a tool; he is a person. And a person is at their strongest when they are protecting their precious people. That is the will of fire. You are a ninja so you can always protect those precious to you." Tsunade explained. Sasuke continued to stare at her flabbergasted. She'd put them through hell just to try to teach them that? Wasn't there a better way? Whatever, Tsunade was insane anyway.

But before Tsunade left she remembered to tell him, "Oh by the way, we're in Suna. We're leaving in three days. Until then you can do whatever you want. Just don't make a political incident. Got it?"

As she left the room, she turned around and gave them a slight proud smile and her eyes softened, "When you guys get back to Konoha, you'll get your new sensei. You passed. You truly deserve to be Shinobi of the leaf, now."

Then she left with a jaunty wave and a whistle in her step. Sasuke just stared at her back in complete confusion. They were getting a new sensei already? Ahhh whatever. Good riddens to the crazy blond. One day, Sasuke vowed; he was going to find the real Tsunade and sick her on this evil imposter. She'd deserve it for all the crazy stuff she'd made them put up with.

Even after Tsunade had left Kota and Fuki remained standing around his bedside staring at him. It made him feel extremely uncomfortable. Fuki's eyes were hard as she looked at him and Kota seemed to be staring right through him almost at something else. Finally, Fuki broke the silence.

"That red chakra. What was it?" she asked.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I guess I don't own this.

Ch. 11

At first Sasuke didn't know how to respond. He had rather stupidly thought that after the one incident with the red chakra years ago it would never reappear. Clearly, he'd been wrong. So, how to begin explaining?

He'd found out the truth approximately four years ago when after suffering from chakra exhaustion, he had gone to see the Sandaime. He remembered the day vividly.

XXX XXX XXX

After being attacked by the mysterious ninja, the red chakra was still hanging over his head. Where had it come from? Why did he have it? Had his mysterious parents had the strange chakra, too? Was that why he was hated?

All he could think of was Ami asking over and over, "Did your parents do something?"

Had they done something? Had someone tried to kill him because of whatever his parents had done? Were they criminals? What if they weren't even from the leaf? These worries plagued Sasuke as he trudged towards the Hokage tower. What did it all mean? Was the red chakra the source of the hatred he received from the villagers?

Before he could ponder that thought more he found himself at the entrance of the red tower. The Hokage would have the answer, but Sasuke wondered if he actually wanted it. Wouldn't it be better not to know? What if the secret was terrible? However, the idea of finally knowing the truth was too compelling. Sasuke took a deep breath before propelling himself through the door.

The Sandaime looked like he had been expecting him. His tired, wrinkled eyes looked Sasuke up and down with a sense of sadness.

"Sasuke," he asked, "What brings you here?"

For a moment Sasuke stared at the old man. This was the moment of truth. He could still turn around and leave. There was no need to know. But, he squared his shoulders, set his feet, and mustered up all the courage he could. He stared past the Hokage at the monument in the background. If he looked at the Sandaime's eyes he might lose his resolve.

Shakily he asked, "Why do I have red chakra?"

His voice cracked on the last word and he found he couldn't continue. He bit his lip and he could feel tears forming in his eyes. He willed them away. His hands clenched into fists with his fingernails digging into his palms. He stared desperately at the floor waiting for his answer. Please, oh kami, please let it not be a bad thing, please, he begged silently in his mind.

"Sasuke, sit down. Let's have a talk," the Sandaime told him before continuing, "I didn't think I'd have to have this conversation with you until many years to come."

Sasuke slid forward before plopping down on the ground. His eyes shone with faint hope.

"One of my anbu informed me that you accessed the fo- red chakra," the Hokage told him before pausing. His eyes slowly scanned Sasuke as if he was judging him, trying to come to a decision. Sasuke frowned slightly. An anbu had informed the Hokage? For a couple moments the room was filled with a tense silence. After staring at Sasuke, the Hokage seemed to come to a decision.

His eyes were grave as he continued, "This red chakra is the reason the villagers…"

He didn't finish the sentence. He had been picking his words with care and seemed uncertain how to continue. Luckily, Sasuke finished the sentence for him.

"Hate me?" Sasuke asked. The Sandaime frowned before blowing a puff of steam out from his pipe.

"I wouldn't go that far, but yes. The red chakra is…" the Sandaime started, but again he stopped. He continued to look Sasuke over. His eyes stayed particularly long on Sasuke's black hair and pale skin. Sasuke leaned in to hear the answer, but the Sandaime made no move to continue the sentence. A frown appeared on the old man's face and for a moment he looked out the window and surveyed the village.

The Hokage took another puff, collected himself and continued, "The red chakra is… a unique chakra. It is based off of rage. As long as you control yourself it should never appear. I trust you can do that, Sasuke? For when it appears it destroys everything."

His eyes burned into Sasuke's and all Sasuke could do was nod and agree.

"Never get angry. Got it. But where does it come from? Am I the only one with it?" Sasuke questioned. Had his parents had it, too? Again the Sandaime paused as if trying to collect himself.

He looked older than ever before as he told Sasuke, "It is a bit like a kekkei genkai. Discuss it with no one. Never use it. It will only lead you astray. It is a curse, not a blessing."

There was a clear warning there. Perhaps it had led Sasuke's parents astray? Whatever it was, it was bad. Sasuke was too cowed to mention the voice he had heard. He would make sure he never ever used it again, though.

As more of an afterthought before Sasuke left he casually asked, "The kyuubi's chakra was red, too, wasn't it? It doesn't have anything to do with that, does it?"

For a moment before the Sandaime composed himself, a look of pure shock and panic crossed his face. However, Sasuke who had been staring at the floor didn't notice. By the time he had raised his head to look at the Hokage's face, the man was wearing a look worthy of a politician. Nothing was revealed.

"No, Sasuke. It has nothing to do with the Kyuubi," the Sandaime told him somberly. Sasuke nodded in relief. At least that was one plus.

A thought occurred to Sasuke and he asked, "So red chakra represents rage? Is that why the Kyuubi was red, because he was a being of rage?"

The Hokage seemed relieved by Sasuke's explanation and merely nodded his head in acceptance. As Sasuke left the Hokage's office he realized he had a lot to think about. The Sandaime hadn't expressly stated it, but it seemed like his parents had been some sort of criminals corrupted by the red chakra. It was sort of relieving to finally know why he was hated by the villagers. Maybe he still had family out there somewhere looking for him who weren't evil? It was an interesting idea, but Sasuke didn't want to get his hopes up.

As the Sandaime watched Sasuke leave his office deep in thought, he picked himself up and stretched his weary bones out. No matter how much he wanted to, he never could quite trust the boy. Even when the boy was a mere child his worries about the boy's suitability to contain the Kyuubi had made themselves known in little nuances. His slight preference of Naruto to Sasuke, his insistence that Jiraiya check the seal, the constant anbu guard on the boy was all part of that mistrust.

It was hard to forget that the boy was an Uchiha. If Minato's son had been the jinchuuriki Sarutobi could have rested easy, but instead it was an Uchiha. When he knew he contained the fox who knew what he might do? He could destroy the village that had scorned him. It was better that he never know. Still watching Sasuke walk out of his office hurt. For some stupid reason, the Sandaime felt he had betrayed the boy.

XXX XXX XXX

Fuki was still waiting for an answer and Sasuke wasn't sure exactly what to say.

"It's a kekkei genkai," he finally muttered. Neither Fuki nor Kota looked at all convinced, but Sasuke refused to add more. The Hokage had told him not to talk about it.

Kota helplessly shrugged before saying, "I've never heard of it. And Sasuke, you felt all weird. Like not you."

He looked a little scared as he said it as if he was afraid Sasuke would lash out at him with the strange red chakra. Fuki said nothing, but her eyes remained as cold as the arctic. She had never even looked at the fake Tsunade with such harshness.

"You've had to have noticed that the villagers don't like me too much. It's because of this. I think my parents had it, too, and did something really bad with it. If you get angry it turns you into a monster. It's like a curse. But, I'm not really allowed to talk about it. Hokage's orders," Sasuke explained after the silence had become too long and unbearable. For a moment his teammates stared at him before Kota jumped upwards with a smile.

He turned to Fuki with a grin and said, "See! It's not so bad! I'm glad you told us Sasuke! It's just a kekkei genkai gone wrong."

Fuki did not look so convinced. She seemed to be weighing his words for truthfulness. Sasuke flinched under her coldness and even Kota's happiness was dampened a little.

"You… you just demolished that guy Sasuke. There was no remorse… no guilt… no anything. It would have been fine, but then… then you turned around. You were gonna do the same thing to me. You turned into a monster like flipping a switch. How do we know that's never going to happen again?" Fuki questioned her voice breaking throughout. Sasuke shrugged. Guilt was worming its way down into his stomach making him feel ill. He didn't know that it would never happen again. For all he knew it could happen tomorrow. Fuki sat down on the floor looking tired and upset.

"I thought you were gonna kill me," she finally said raggedly. They sat in an awkward silence for a couple of minutes. The clock ticked in the background.

"I thought you were gonna kill me," she repeated it again as if she couldn't quite believe it. Kota looked unsure of what to say or do. Sasuke just shrugged sadly. The silence rolled on.

Finally Kota spoke up, "You said it was caused by anger right? So just don't get angry."

Sasuke stared at him in disbelief. Don't get angry. What great advice. Not. But Fuki had looked up from the ground and she looked hopeful.

"Kota has a point. Sasuke you're our teammate and friend, I don't want you to hurt people. Whatever your parents did I don't want you to end up like them. You just can't get angry," Fuki told him. Her voice sounded stronger and more sure of itself.

Sasuke sighed before telling them, "I've been meditating ever since I found out, but how am I supposed to stop from getting angry when something like Kota getting murdered happens?"

There was a note of hopelessness in his voice as he said it. It seeped into his two teammates who both seemed at a loss. Again they sat in silence, but this time the silence stretched on. Eventually Fuki slowly pushed herself up so she was standing.

"I don't know," she told him sadly before she took Kota's hand and they both left the room. Kota sent Sasuke a pained look as they exited, but Fuki didn't turn around. Sasuke remained laying in his bed. As they walked away all he could hear where the echoes of their footsteps, leaving him all alone.

He had never told anyone else before. Not Ami or Naruto. He didn't know what to feel. He knew he should feel sad, or uneasy, or even, kami forbid, angry, but he didn't. He just felt empty. He lay in his bed and he stared up at the white washed ceiling and willed himself to feel something. Instead, a voice spoke.

"**Nice friends, you got there, brat**," the voice told him with a laugh. Sasuke panicked and fell out of his bed. He hadn't heard that voice in years.

"What are you? Where are you?" he yelled into his empty hospital room. He was greeted by the voice's laughter.

When the disembodied voice had stopped laughing it claimed, "**My** **name is Kurama and I am your spiritual guide.**"

Sasuke looked around the room desperately searching for a sign of this so called spiritual guide and finding none. His spiritual guide merely seemed amused by his actions.

"**Don't be stupid. I live inside of you,"** it told him before continuing, "**I can help you control your anger, so you never lose your temper again and hurt your little friends. All you have to do is give me a little something in exchange,**" the voice promised. Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

He crossed his arms before asking, "What exactly would I have to do?"

"**Oh, nothing big. Just a favor or two here and there. And in exchange, you can get as mad as you want with no unfortunate repercussions. That'd be good wouldn't it? All your little friends are going to ditch you just like your teammates if you keep turning into a monster, aren't they? Imagine what Ami would think of you. You'd go back to being all alone. You could disappear and no one would notice. Do you want that? Do you want to lose everyone's acknowledgement that you've worked so hard for?**" the voice asked. Sasuke bit his lip. When he put it like that how could he not agree?

"You can really make it so I don't turn into a monster?" Sasuke asked.

The voice cackled before responding, "**Oh yes. I can ensure that you never turn into a monster ever again.**"

Sasuke closed his eyes. He saw Fuki and Kota walking away from him.

"I agree," he told the voice. The voice screeched with glee and Sasuke wondered if he'd made a deal with the devil. He dismissed easily such a ludicrous thought. After all, his spiritual guide couldn't be evil, could he?

XXX XXX XXX

Three hours later Sasuke had met up with his teammates and explained his situation. Fuki had seemed a bit skeptical, but Kota had wholeheartedly embraced the theory.

"Come on, Fuki. So what if you've never heard of a spiritual guide! It could be part of Sasuke's kekkei genkai. Sasuke get mad so she can see! Look! The problems solved!" Kota argued. However, it took Sasuke paying for a fan, buying Fuki food, and the plotting of a vengeful prank against their blond sensei for when they returned home for Fuki to reaccept Sasuke back into the fold. Sasuke knew, though, that he'd be on eggshells around Fuki and even Kota for a long time. Luckily Fuki was at least capable of joking about it.

When Sasuke refused to pay for the ridiculous face paint she had bought she jokingly argued, "You still tried to kill me."

It was a relief. Clearly his spiritual guardian had come through. Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all.

As they walked around Suna, Sasuke couldn't help but notice how different it was from Konoha. Even though they were allies, the desert ninja still sent cold dark looks at them that promised future bodily harm. Frankly, it was pretty scary. Of course, Fuki met them glare for glare no matter how much Sasuke tried to get her to stop. Kota, who would have been pissing himself in fear if he'd noticed, luckily remained oblivious of the glaring ninja.

But it wasn't just that. Even the civilians were harder and colder. The haggling was taken more seriously. Their faces had more wrinkles and less laugh lines. No one idled in the streets. They were all busy going from place to place. They didn't stop to talk. Instead, there was a constant rush to get to the next place. It made the slow moving, idling Konoha ninja stick out like a sore thumb.

It made Sasuke's skin crawl. He'd thought he'd enjoy being out of Konoha for the first time, but this atmosphere was just unsettling. It didn't help that the sand kept getting in his sandles and he could feel a nasty red burn spreading on his unprotected neck. And there was a slight undercurrent of something bad in the air. Sasuke couldn't put a finger on it, but he knew it was there. Was it fear?

He was interrupted by Kota who told them, "You know the chakra feels different here. Not bad different, but just strange different."

Fuki ignored the comment, so Sasuke pretended to be interested. Although Kota's sensor abilities were useful he was always talking about other people's chakra which got a little old after a while.

XXX XXX XXX

It had been strange to see everyone in the village clear the streets the minute it got dark out. The three ninja had been confused. In Konoha the streets were busy at all hours no matter how late.

"I wonder if it's part of their culture," Fuki had questioned. Kota had nodded.

Sasuke had added his two cents, "It did get really cold out. Maybe they went in to escape it?"

It was true. Without the sun to heat up the village the temperature had plummeted. Fuki who wore a scarf was fine, although she'd been burning during the day, but both Kota and Sasuke were freezing. Sasuke was only wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt while Kota although he had a sweater was wearing shorts, too.

"Maybe we should head in?" Kota asked. Sasuke chimed in his agreement. Fuki looked disappointed, but glancing at the deserted streets agreed.

As they walked to the hotel Tsunade had given them, Sasuke felt sure he was being watched. The undercurrent of something bad was back and his skin was prickling. He turned around in a rush and for a moment he thought he saw a trace of red in the sky before he dismissed it. There was nothing there. He was merely being paranoid. Kota glanced at him to see what he was up to as Fuki led the way. Sasuke shrugged.

XXX XXX XXX

Two days later, they were preparing to leave Suna. Tsunade had seemed pleased with how her talks with the Kazekage had gone and had refrained from further traumatizing her fragile genin.

She had briefly taken Sasuke aside on the second day and asked him, "You do know what the red chakra was, don't you?"

Sasuke had glanced at his teammates briefly before nodding and telling her that the Sandaime had already explained it to him. Tsunade looked relieved that she didn't have to deal with it and happily sent him on his way. Sasuke had rolled his eyes. Even the fake Tsunade knew about his kekkei genkai?

As they prepared to leave the village, though, the prickling feeling came back. He'd felt like he was being watched on and off during their stay. It would be a relief to return to Konoha where everyone tried not to look at him. Turning around, Sasuke scanned the sand village looking for the perpetrator. Expecting an angry ninja covered head to toe in black, he was surprised to find himself staring at a boy who looked his age with dark red eyes and burning cold eyes that glared through him. This was the kid who'd been stalking him the whole time? It seemed ridiculous. The other boy reminded him so much of Fuki, with her reddish auburn hair and angry glares, that he couldn't help laughing. He didn't know what possessed him at the time, but he cheekily waved at the other boy, who could have passed for Fuki's twin.

The other boy did not wave back.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I guess I don't own this. Sucks, right?

Ch. 12

Sasuke had to admit that upon returning to the village he'd half expected to be ambushed by a frantic Ami and Naruto. They'd been extremely jealous when he'd told them that he was going on a C rank mission outside of the village. With Kakashi as their sensei, Ami had fretted that they'd never get to leave the village and they'd have to live vicariously through Sasuke. Sasuke didn't really believe that of course, but he was used to Naruto's dramatics and was horrified to think that Naruto had somehow infected Ami.

So, he'd expected an ambush of questions upon his return. He'd even prepared himself for it grudgingly. When his team along with "Tsunade" arrived at the gates and no one greeted them, Sasuke had to admit to being a little relieved. But after they'd debriefed and even been back in the village for long enough for everyone to know it, and Ami and Naruto still hadn't hunted him down, Sasuke began to worry a little. For Kami's sake, even Kiba, who disliked him, had tracked him down to hear how his C rank mission had gone. Where were Ami and Naruto?

It was a novel experience to try to hunt the two of them down. He was so used to them coming to him that he didn't really even know where to start. He thought about heading to Ami's house, but he'd never even been inside. He didn't want to have to face Ami's mother, who he had never actually met.

For a while Sasuke put off the inevitable by hunting for them through the training grounds. Besides almost being impaled by a crazy weapon girl on training ground nine, Sasuke had had no luck. Facing defeat he began to march slowly towards his doom— namely Namikaze Kushina.

XXX XXX XXX

"He's late," Fuki irritably told Kota. She was leaning against a training post with her arms crossed and her mouth pierced in a straight line. Kota merely shrugged looking uncertain. Waiting at the training ground with just an annoyed Fuki was really unnerving. Every time her eyes narrowed he jumped a little, but Fuki was too annoyed to even notice or take pleasure from the fear she was inducing.

"Maybe he just forgot?" Kota finally questioned. The silence had become too much for him to handle. He wasn't sure he wanted Fuki's attention on him, but it had to be better than the silence that had threatened to strangle him.

Fuki's eyes narrowed even more and she angrily raked a hand through her auburn hair before muttering, "Forgot? Tsunade clearly told us to meet here for our new sensei. Is he trying to start off on a bad foot?"

She dissolved into angry mutterings and Kota just shrugged helplessly. He really wished Sasuke would get here. Where was the other boy? But more importantly who was their new sensei? After musing for a little on it Kota discovered he had little to no idea and turned to Fuki.

"So, who do you think it'll be?" Kota questioned as he played with his fingerless gloves. He'd gotten them during the trip to Suna. They looked a lot like Kanden's gloves a fact which disgusted both Sasuke and Fuki. But Kota liked them. Fuki's head swung around to stare at him at his question. Her muttering abruptly cut off and she looked confused.

Kota shrugged hesitantly before adding, "Our sensei, I mean. And if you say the snake lady I'll… I'll do something rash."

Coming from Kota the threat didn't really even register. Instead Fuki's eyebrows rose in amusement, before she stopped to seriously think about it.

"I don't really know. I guess we'll have to just wait and see," she finally intoned.

She was interrupted by a voice exclaiming enthusiastically, "That you will! But not for much longer!"

A young black haired man with short unkempt hair jumped out of one of the trees with a grin. He wore a faded Konoha forehead protector and seemed extremely pleased to be there. But that wasn't what drew Fuki's and even Kota's attention. They were drawn to his dark defined eyelashes which turned up at the end giving him an overall feminine look.

"Uchiha Shisui at your service," the girlish man claimed with a cheeky grin. Kota stared at him with his mouth hanging wide open, but it was Fuki who voiced what they were both thinking.

Staring at the Uchiha with a hard look she told him completely seriously, "You look like a girl."

The Uchiha blinked at them nonplussed as if he didn't quite comprehend. A short chuckle was heard from behind the man before it was abruptly cut off as the chuckler attempted to make it seem like a cough. For a moment the four people in the clearing remained in absolute silence staring at each other. Then Uchiha Shisui wheeled around to look at the chuckler and in an offended tone questioned, "You just laughed at me, didn't you Itachi?"

Fuki could finally see the chuckler who she was unsurprised to see was another Uchiha. This Uchiha, however, managed to avoid the feminine look that Uchiha Shisui had obtained, even though his hair was so long that he had put it in a pony tail. If questioned, Fuki would have sworn up and down that he was also wearing nail polish. However, she was distracted by Shisui's long drawn out rant.

"This is how you repay me?" the Uchiha questioned dramatically, "After I beg for you to come with, to help me out," here the Uchiha added a sniff for effect before continuing sadly, "My first genin team ever thinks I look like a girl and you laugh. You were supposed to be my moral support!"

And with a cry Uchiha Shisui ran off into the forest. The other Uchiha rolled his eyes and Fuki merely stared dumbfounded. Kota sighed before asking, "Should I track him down?"

The other Uchiha or Nails as Fuki dubbed him glanced down at the two genin with a look of shock as if he had just noticed their presence before shrugging.

"Probably not. He'll come back after he calms down. He gets like this sometimes- a bit of a drama queen. He insisted I come with him to meet his genin team to make sure it didn't go wrong," Nails told them in a bored tone. Fuki would have sworn though that a bit of amusement shone through.

"We might as well wait," Nails told them before sitting down on the grass to meditate.

Fuki blinked at him sitting on the ground with his pony tail whipping around in the air before asking with a certain amount of dread, "That's our jounin sensei?"

Nails with a look of amusement merely nodded his head in agreement. Fuki groaned before turning to look at Kota.

"Now I know why Sasuke ditched," she muttered. She then plopped down next to Nails and pretended to meditate as well.

XXX XXX XXX

Sasuke was annoyed to say the least. Ami, Naruto, and even Hibachi had gotten to go on a C-rank mission all the way to Wave. Here he had spent days listening to them moan about how they would never leave the village and they were so jealous of Sasuke, and by the time he gets back they weren't even in the village. Figures, Sasuke thought morosely. As he trudged through the training grounds in a foul mood, he had the inane feeling that he was forgetting something. But what? Hmph. He didn't really know. But he was kind of hungry. Maybe he should go get something to eat? Udon noodle sounded pretty good right about now.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto rather liked his head where it was thank you very much. The idea of getting it cut off honestly didn't appeal to him all that much. But at the time it had seemed like such a good idea—really it had. When they'd been attacked by the demon brothers, Ami and Hibachi had seamlessly pulled off a group attack which was super awesome even if all Kakashi had done was lamely fake his own death. Naruto had guarded the client which while not an epic job, he could grudgingly accept was important. The fact that Ami and Hibachi had displayed perfect teamwork, Naruto understood, was an important step. It showed just how much their team had grown. So when Kakashi had offered their team a way out, Naruto had immediately turned it down.

He was cursing that decision now. This was Zabuza Momochi they were facing and they were totally screwed. They were going to die. He was going to die. He couldn't move. The client was going to die. He couldn't breathe. Why were they here? This was a mistake. Panic was overriding his senses.

Was this killing intent? Maybe I'm not meant to be a ninja, Naruto thought. He felt sick and light headed. Maybe I should just end it all, he questioned. I can't deal with this. Why won't he just kill me? Kakashi's assurances did nothing. Why couldn't he breathe? Why? Why? Why? Make it stop.

With shaking hands Naruto found himself reaching for a kunai. He needed to make it stop. It was only Ami's chilled hand on his that stopped him. He jerked and stared at her. Her eyes were just as wide and frightened as his own. Like him she seemed to be struggling to breathe. Her hand had curled in on itself and squeezed so tightly that she'd drawn blood. She stared into his eyes and asked, "What would Sasuke do?"

For a moment Naruto blinked at her and felt the strange desire to laugh. How was he supposed to know what Sasuke would do? All he knew was that Sasuke wouldn't sit on the ground cowering like a little baby.

Naruto blinked at that. Sasuke wouldn't cower. Sasuke wouldn't let something stupid like this intimidate him. Sasuke would come up with a plan. Sasuke would fight back. He could do that, too. He didn't need Sasuke. He could do all that just fine himself.

He turned to Ami and Hibachi with a solemn nod and calculating eyes.

"Alright. Here's the plan," he told them. Ami smirked at him and Hibachi's dark eyes glinted. There was no way they were going down here. Believe it.

XXX XXX XXX

When Uchiha Shisui finally returned to the clearing two hours later demanding a public apology from Nails, Fuki was beyond annoyed. She was pissed. Sasuke still hadn't bothered to show up and they'd gotten another insane jounin for a sensei. In fact during their two hour wait, she'd been shocked to learn that Nails was a jounin.

"But you seem so normal! You can't possibly be a jounin or even a strong ninja! They're all insane," she argued. Nails had seemed amused by her argument before assuring her that he was indeed a jounin.

Fuki was not convinced and claimed, "But we have snake lady, crazy youth man, lazy ass, smoker, and even fake "Tsunade". You just don't fit!"

Seeing that Nails still did not seem convinced she shook Kota awake. He'd been staring at the fauna and had fallen asleep only thirty minutes in.

"Uuhhh? What? Where's the attack?" Kota panicked as he woke up. He sprung into action only to notice that he was still in the same clearing as before. Sheepishly he put the kunai back into his pocket before turning to Fuki.

"That was mean, you know," he told her with a pout, "I really thought something was wrong."

"Of course things are wrong! Just look at our jounin sensei," Fuki told him with dismay before continuing, "Nails claims he's a jounin, but that can't possibly be right because he's not insane enough."

At this Kota leaned forward to get a better look at Nails as if to assess him. He shrugged and with a yawn claimed, "Maybe he's just better at hiding it. Better question. If he is actually sane why can't he be our jounin sensei?"

Fuki blinked at Kota.

"Sometimes you are a genius," she told him in awe before turning to Nails and begging, "Be our jounin sensei please!"

Nails looked awkward before telling her, "I was offered, but I turned it down."

Kota and Fuki stared at him.

"What? Why?" Fuki asked. Kota just continued to stare at Nails with a look of utter betrayal.

Nails lip curved upwards in slight amusement before he began in a casual tone, "Well you know, they didn't want their most sane jounin corrupted by their most insane genin."

For a moment both genin stared at him in shock before Fuki told him, "I think I hate him right now."

Kota looked confused before asking, "Wow… Does he stalk us or something?"

"Nope… Just Sasuke." Nails told them in his same monotone.

Fuki did a face palm before turning to Kota and muttering, "I take it back. He's just as insane as the rest of them."

XXX XXX XXX

Sasuke had wandered around Konoha trying to decide where he wanted to eat. Based on the beautiful weather he decided to eat his udon out at a noodle bar near the center of town. That way he could head into the shopping district after. Since he'd been on a mission he needed to restock his pantry. He was just finishing up his bowl of noodles when someone plopped down in the seat next to him. Sasuke didn't turn to look at the newcomer but continued to resolutely eat his noodles. But the man was not content to be ignored.

The man with a sniff turned to Sasuke and asked with a sob, "Do you think I look like a..a.a girl?"

Sasuke blinked and turned to look at the man, who indeed did look like a girl, before shaking his head. Sometimes honesty wasn't the best policy.

"Thank Kami!" the distraught man yelled before hugging Sasuke around the middle. Sasuke awkwardly pushed the black haired girlish man away from him and wondered if he should have told the man the truth. Perhaps then he would have avoided the man's hug.

"I'm Uchiha Shisui," the man introduced himself after ending his attack on Sasuke's person. Sasuke blinked at the man before nodding.

He supposed it was proper manners to introduce himself even he didn't really like this man and said, "I'm Sasuke"

"Sasuke," the man interrupted, "How strange! I have a Sasuke on my genin team. Oh crap! My genin team. I've got to go! See ya around Sasuke!" the man said with a giant wave before running off. It took Sasuke a while to process his words. Sasuke, a genin team, and have to go. Oh, wait. Sasuke's eyes widened and he quickly deposited his change on the table before running after the black haired man. Fuki was so going to kill him.

XXX XXX XXX

When Sasuke arrived at the training ground he was unsurprised to see an angry Fuki glowering at him her brown eyes gleaming with hatred. In a show of childishness Sasuke stuck his tongue out at her and Kota dissolved into giggles which he quickly suppressed when Fuki's glare turned on him.

"Excellent," Uchiha Shisui interrupted, "We're all here. As you may be aware I'm Uchiha Shisui. I'll be your jounin sensei. Since you guys are such an unusual team and also my first genin team I've asked Uchiha Itachi to help me train you!" Shisui told them happily.

Sasuke blinked at the man in shock. All three genin were confused.

"Ummm… Weren't you just crying?" Sasuke asked carefully. Shisui smirked rather evilly and the other guy who was Uchiha Itachi seemed extremely amused.

With eyes gleaming madly Shisui told them, "You don't know my specialty, do you? That is where we will begin my little students. The art of deception."


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own this.

Ch. 13

Sasuke would admit that upon first meeting Shisui-sensei at the udon noodles he'd thought the man a nut. Even after his whole speech on deception he'd found it hard to believe that the man was a good ninja. He'd been crying, for kami's sake, about looking like a girl.

Yet in his quest to be in the elite he'd researched all of konoha's top ninja. He knew for a fact that Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi were some of the best. Uchiha Itachi was rumored to be next in line to be Hokage. So why were they bothering with the three of them? It'd make sense for one of them to be assigned the volatile team, but why both?

Sasuke had briefly thought they might be wanna bes like the fake Tsunade given the way they acted, but he doubted that even Konoha would let that occur for more than one ninja. After dismissing that theory he could only be left with the horrible truth. They were Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi and the three of them had been played. Maybe Shisui-sensei had been trying to teach them a lesson about underestimating their opponents or maybe he just enjoyed messing with them. Sasuke couldn't be sure, but the not knowing was killing him.

After Shisui-sensei's dramatic speech, he hadn't done anything out of the ordinary. Instead he'd tested their skill level by setting up spars and drills. They'd been made to perform pushups, situps, pull-ups, and the other academy tests like a timed run. He'd seemed impressed with their results, but after all they had spent two weeks being drilled to the breaking point by Kanden.

He'd also had them perform their jutsus and gave out tactical tests. In these they had to work as a team to form a solution. Sometimes it was purely theoretical whereas other times Shisui-sensei had them perform the mock mission. Shisui-sensei would take their carefully planned solutions and rip it to shreds. Their failure, he said, always ended with the death of one of their teammates. Sasuke had died seven times, Fuki five, and Kota nine just in the first week of training with their new sensei.

Yet, he hadn't mentioned anything about deception again. He seemed merely content to train them in their tactical thinking and get their bodies in shape. It was this waiting that was driving Sasuke mad. He wanted to know what Shisui-sensei was planning. He knew the smirk Shisui-sensei was always wearing bothered Fuki and Kota as well. They were just waiting for their jounin sensei to snap out of control and do something bizarre.

However, it wasn't Shisui-sensei that truly frightened Sasuke. Rather it was Itachi-sensei. He showed up to all their team meetings and even supervised some of their D-ranks, but he never said a word. Instead, he spent the time staring at Sasuke. The constant attention was unbearable. Sasuke found himself missing targets and being nicked by kunai he easily could have avoided. The constant watching was causing him to make elementary mistakes. And with each mistake he could feel Itachi's dark eyes burning holes into him. What exactly was the Uchiha looking for?

It also made Sasuke question why the Uchiha was here. He never paid any attention to Fuki or Kota. Instead he'd flick his hand for Sasuke and Sasuke would be forced to go over to see what he wanted. The silent Uchiha would point at a target or perhaps a tree and do a motion. Sasuke would then have to copy it. They were tests and Sasuke found himself failing more and more of them as he went along. It was maddening. The more he failed the more the Uchiha tested him giving him dark disappointed looks whenever he failed.

It made Sasuke even more irritable. One day after practice, after failing to learn the fire release: phoenix sage fire technique which was apparently the next jutsu to learn after the fireball, Sasuke had finally had enough.

"I don't know what he expects! Why won't he help me?" he questioned irritably. He and his teammates were heading out of the training grounds to go get dinner. Fuki was in the lead and she spun around to stare at Sasuke.

"Don't know why you're complaining. He's giving you one on one training," she told him just as irritably. The waiting for Shisui-sensei to snap was driving her up the wall as well. Kota glanced nervously between the two of them. He could sense a fight brewing.

Running his fingerless gloves through his brown hair he attempted to diffuse the situation by asking, "So where are we going to dinner?"

He only received a glare for his efforts from Fuki and an irritable Sasuke chose to walk away. For a moment they stared at Sasuke's back confused. He was walking in the wrong direction.

"Where are you going?" Fuki yelled at his retreating back. Sasuke didn't turn around. Instead, he continued walking away.

Kota stared at him before yelling, "Hey Sasuke!"

Sasuke whirled around in annoyance.

"I'm going home. I'm sick and tired of dealing with this crap. I'm sick of Itachi's stupid tests and I'm sick of Shisui's stupid smirk. And I'm sick of you guys, too!" Sasuke told them before walking away. Fuki and Kota stared after him in shock before anger contorted Fuki's face as well.

"Well. I'm sick of you, too!"she yelled after him before leaving in a huff. Kota was left standing in the deserted alleyway by himself. For a moment he wondered what he should do when a cough interrupted him. Shisui-sensei jumped down from a neighboring building. Kota blinked in surprise at their sensei. As a chakra sensor he was used to knowing where people were at all times. The fact that his sensei got the jump on him constantly and seemed to enjoy doing it was beyond annoying.

"Eight days," Shisui sensei said with the same demented grin he'd worn all week. Kota stared at him for a moment.

"Sorry," he asked, "But what's eight days?

Shisui grinned down at him before saying, "How long it took them to snap, of course. It probably would have taken longer, but Itachi was quite insistent on testing Sasuke. I had nothing to do with that."

The grin on Shisui's face that seemed likely to split his face in two abruptly disappeared and he looked down at Kota with a slight smile. For the first time since the deception speech their sensei looked normal.

"Another test?" Kota asked calmly. Shisui smiled at him lightly.

He offered to Kota, "Let's go out for dinner. And yes. It was another test. How long team unity can last when you're under extreme stress and just waiting for everything to go to hell. Itachi helped with that quite a bit although I didn't ask him to."

Their sensei began to walk away and Kota stared after him in awe for a moment before asking, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you guys are at the level where you need to be. Tomorrow the real training starts. Will you be able to get your team together in time?" Shisui asked casually. Kota bit his lip lightly and shrugged. He continued to follow Shisui towards dinner which seemed to surprise the other man.

"You're not going to go after your teammates?" he asked Kota in a surprised tone.

Kota shrugged and looked up at their sensei before telling him, "I still have questions I want answered. And anyways my teammates need a little time to cool off. I know where they live and I have all night to convince them, but if I lose you I might not be able to find you again."

Shisui blinked for a moment. His short unkempt black hair rustled in the breeze before he grinned.

"You're a lot smarter than most people give you credit for, aren't you?" he questioned. Kota's eyes were hard as he looked at his sensei.

He ignored the question and instead said, "My first question— Why is Itachi obsessed with Sasuke?"

Shisui seemed amused.

"You're an interesting little kid, you know that? I think I'll answer your questions," Shisui told him.

XXX XXX XXX

It was weird, Kota thought, that it was easier to convince Fuki to apologize than it had been to convince Sasuke. Sasuke, who was usually so ready to accept blame, had refused to see his own mistakes in the past week. He'd just insisted that he didn't understand why Itachi was holding him to impossible standards he clearly couldn't obtain. For a while Kota debated back and forth if he should reveal what he knew to Sasuke about Itachi. He wasn't sure how the other boy would take it. It was obvious he didn't know, though.

When the team was assembled Kota began by explaining how it had just been another test.

"Which Sasuke failed for us," Fuki irritably snarked. Sasuke glowered at her and Kota rubbed his temples in annoyance. It was late and this was taking too long.

"It might not be a bad thing," he interjected, "Shisui-sensei said that the real training starts tomorrow. But we have to show up as a united team or we fail. Personally I don't want to fail."

The normal cheery boy's eyes were lacking their usual gleam. He seemed tired and put upon. Perhaps it was his lack of normal energy that caused Sasuke and even Fuki to listen to him.

"I… right. I'm sorry Sasuke," Fuki finally groused. Sasuke nodded and with a little urging offered a similar apology.

"We're a team," Kota told them tiredly, "If we let small things like this destroy us then there is no way we'll survive in the field. At least that's what Shisui sensei said."

Fuki groaned before muttering, "I'm really starting to hate his little head games."

"Itachi's too," Sasuke added. Kota glanced at Sasuke awkwardly when he said that. Should he tell him? Sasuke had said he just wanted to know what Itachi wanted. Would it be such a bad thing to tell him?

"Uhhh," Kota began. Sasuke turned to look at him with raised eyebrows.

"What?" he questioned.

Speaking quickly so as not to lose his courage Kota began, "Well… I'm not really sure if Itachi was meaning to mess with your head. Well… what I mean to say is… what I'm trying to say is. Well… your name's Sasuke like Itachi's brother except well Itachi's brother Sasuke died during the Kyuubi attack, but I mean… well… his brother would be our age now… you know?"

Sasuke stared at him for a moment.

"No I don't think I know," he said after a moment.

Fuki, however, with a furrowed brow asked, "Itachi thinks Sasuke is his brother?"

"Well not really. But Sasuke… our Sasuke… was born on the night of the fox attack when Itachi's Sasuke died. So our Sasuke was apparently named after his Sasuke as a tribute to the Uchiha's help in defeating the fox. I'm not really sure how it all worked," Kota told them.

Fuki frowned before saying, "I'm not really sure I'm following. How does that have anything to do with Itachi testing Sasuke?"

"Well… he just wants to make sure our Sasuke isn't shaming his Sasuke's name or something," Kota said while shrugging helplessly. Fuki stared at him for a moment thinking deeply.

"I guess in a twisted sort of way that kind of makes sense," she offered. She turned to Sasuke. He noticeably hadn't said anything. Instead he was staring at the ground deep in thought. His hands had clenched into fists and for a moment Fuki could have sworn she saw a flash of red chakra around the boy before it disappeared.

"Sasuke?" she asked hesitantly. He glanced up at her slowly. His dark eyes reflected the night and for a moment he looked truly dangerous before his shoulders sagged and he got up.

"I… I always thought that my parents had named me… or something. I thought they named me Sasuke because they wanted me to be a great ninja. It… It was the only thing I truly had left of them," he told them sadly staring into the distance. It was, he had thought, the only good thing he had to remember them by. Everything else they had left him was tainted. But Sasuke had been the one thing he had truly thought they had given him. To learn that even his name wasn't truly his own was disgusting. Had his parents even bothered to name him? Had his name been stolen from him and replaced with Itachi's brother's name? He needed to be alone. He needed to think. Where were Ami and Naruto when you needed them?

"I have to go," he finally said before he fled the scene. Fuki and Kota stared after him with worry.

Kota nervously played with his fingerless gloves as he watched Sasuke escape and Fuki called after him, "You'll be at practice tomorrow, won't you?"

If Sasuke heard he didn't respond.

XXX XXX XXX

"I am known as Shunshin no Shisui, but I'm actually more famous for something else," Shisui told his students seriously the next day at their meeting. Kota and Fuki leaned in to hear more, but Sasuke's moody black eyes were staring straight at Itachi. He didn't even appear to be listening. Shisui stared at Sasuke for a moment before coughing loudly. Sasuke swung to attention.

With a slight smile Shisui continued, "Much better. It's not really talked about, but I have the ability to control others with my sharingan."

All three genin blinked at him in shock before Fuki asked in a panic, "Have you been controlling us?"

"No, no. Most people don't really understand what that means. They know I can do it, so they think I can and am doing it constantly. But actually I can use it only very very rarely. However, I foster the idea that I can control people constantly. Why?" Shisui asked.

It was Kota who answered, "So… When people face you in battle they begin to think they're being controlled even when they're not. It's just another mind game— another deception."

"Exactly," Shisui answered, "Some of you might be wondering what the point of these deceptions are. Why bother when I can just take my opponent down with sheer force, right?"

All three genin stared at him in confusion. Kota scratched his head thinking. Fuki stared at the grass and Sasuke turned back to staring at Itachi.

"C'mon why do you think I wanted you guys as my genin team? I wanted a genin team who would take after their jounin sensei and I think you guys take after me pretty well. Think about how you defeated Kanden," he urged them.

The three genin frowned in thought and Fuki finally said what they were all thinking, "We didn't defeat him, not really. We just sicked Namikaze-san on him."

"Exactly. And how exactly did you convince Namikaze-san to attack Kenden?" Shisui asked.

Sasuke smirked slightly and said simply, "We lied."

Shisui grinned at them and casually leaned up against a tree. The three genin shared a confused look before looking up at him.

"I think we're missing something," Kota told Shisui.

"And I think you're not. My whole battle style relies around messing with my opponent's head and then teleporting all around them confusing them. When they're completely lost I swoop in for the kill. The whole time I'm not in any danger. Look at how effective it is. Imagine if you could mess with your opponents head so badly you pretty much can defeat them without ever even touching them. You did that to Kanden, didn't you? Imagine if you could do that to everyone. That is the art of deception. That is what I'm going to teach you. With the sharingan I naturally have an advantage that you guys don't. However, there are three of you. I'm sure the three of you working together can be taught to be even more effective than I am by myself. However, this has to be something you want to learn," Shisui told them seriously.

Fuki's eyebrows rose before she asked, "Why wouldn't this be something we want to learn?"

Surprisingly it was Itachi who answered, "A lot of genin especially elite genin want to be the front line assault team. They want flashy moves and they want all the credit. What Shisui is suggesting would be a team that operates in the dark. A nameless faceless group that will most likely never receive credit for their work."

Sasuke stared at them for a moment in confusion.

"I don't think I understand. What exactly would we be doing?" he asked in confusion.

Shisui gave them a lopsided grin, "Well… the goal is that you can take down people, armies, and countries with no one even realizing it was you. Nameless Shinobi who protect peace from the shadows. That's the team I've always wanted to train."

XXX XXX XXX


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Seriously this isn't mine.

Also sorry for the late update. I'm not a huge fan of where Naruto is going right now so it's a little hard to be inspired. But I love reader feedback!

Ch. 14

It was Sasuke's favorite day of the week— market day. One day every week after training Sasuke would head into the shopping district to go look at the fresh wares. Today he paused over fresh plump, red treats. A nearby passerby would note with disgust that the boy was practically salivating. For Sasuke choosing just ten of them was practically impossible. How could he decide?

If he was anyone else he would have shouted for the entire street to hear while cackling madly, "I must have all of them!"

Luckily for the disturbed bystanders Sasuke refrained himself and began the hour long task of selecting the best tomatoes from the group. The vender, who was a craggy old man, chose to ignore Sasuke and instead read his questionable magazine. The man was used to Sasuke's weird eccentricities and knew it would take the boy awhile to make a decision. Instead he sat back with a yawn, his magazine, and contemplated a late afternoon nap. However, it was not to be.

"Sasuke!" a voice from half-way down the street interrupted a mere half hour later. Sasuke, whose quest had been nearing completion, was startled out of his reverie. He glanced down the street only to be greeted by bright red hair. He groaned. A smiling Namikaze Kushina carrying a bag of vegetables was fast approaching him. For a moment Sasuke contemplated escape before realizing the ridiculousness of such an idea. First of all the Namikaze had already spotted him, second he was in a crowded market, and third the red head was a ninja. But what really swayed Sasuke's decision was the fact that he simply couldn't abandon his tomatoes.

"Where have you been?" the loud female questioned him. She was still a great distance away and her voice exceeded what was socially acceptable. Sasuke flinched at the loudness as passer byers stared at the loud kunoichi who remained utterly oblivious to the stares she elicited. Sasuke half-heartedly waved at the bright ninja as she approached before glancing mournfully back at his tomatoes. Another shopping expedition hopelessly ruined.

The moment she was on top of him she gripped him by his shoulders before shaking him back and forth as if to shake the answers out of him.

"Where have you been?" she repeated just as loudly as Sasuke flopped back and forth in her hands before continuing, "Naruto's been back for two days! Did you hear about his mission? It went from C to A. Why haven't you stopped by? I loved the flowers by the way! You should have stayed. Just dropping them off was rude. Also where are your teammates? Shouldn't you be with your sensei? Eh it's not important! Do you want dinner or maybe lunch? Oh, I know! We could…"

The Namikaze continued her rant, but Sasuke tuned her out. Naruto was back? Naruto had been back for two days? Why hadn't Naruto or at least Ami come and seen him? Sasuke frowned before flinging himself out of the red haired Namikaze's grip.

"I… I have to go," he told her before fleeing the market place. Kushina's eyes widened in confusion as the young teen disappeared into the streets of Konoha. For a moment she watched his dark hair weave through the crowded streets with pure bewilderment before shrugging. Maybe he went to see Naruto, she thought happily before glancing back down at her grocery bag. She frowned at it trying to recall what she still needed. Giving it up as a lost cause she went back to humming and began the long trek home.

XXX XXX XXX

Sasuke had not in fact gone to see Naruto. Rather he had gone to one of the rooftops he normally ran into Shikamaru on. The roof was located on a bright open building with red hangings, but most importantly it was in a quieter section of Konoha. He needed to think. Why hadn't his friends hunted him down first thing? It wasn't like them to ignore him. Why hadn't Ami woken him up this morning bright and early? Were they mad at him? Sasuke began to panic a little and tried to remember everything the Namikaze had said. There'd been a part about his team; she'd asked about his sensei, she'd claimed Naruto had been back for two days. She'd thanked him for the flowers. Sasuke frowned. What had she said about the mission? It'd been upgraded. From C to something. He closed his eyes and imagined the scene. He saw in his head Kushina's lips moving. With a moment of clarity Sasuke sat straight up.

Naruto's mission had been upgraded to A. The doofus had probably been injured which is why he hadn't seen Sasuke. Ami was most likely watching him. It all made so much sense! Nothing was wrong or out of the ordinary. They weren't mad at him! Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief before heading over to check on Naruto.

XXX XXX XXX

The moment Tsunade had returned from her mission to Suna with what the other kids from their class were affectionately dubbing the "zombie team" Sakura had hunted her down. All the other kids were getting training and if she didn't move fast she would fall hopelessly behind. It had taken weeks for Sakura to even come up with a good reason for why she was a ninja much less a medical one. Finally she'd resorted much to her own shame and embarrassment to asking her kooky parents. Even for Sakura they could be a little too much. She really hadn't expected much when she'd asked them. It'd been more a last ditch resort.

She had had expectations, though. Her dad would launch into a corny joke perhaps a pun. Was it really a wonder they'd given her the name Sakura? When no one laughed at his joke he'd begin laughing at it himself and then continue to make embarrassing jokes. Her mother, at first understanding of the jokes, would easily lose her patience and begin chasing her erstwhile husband around the kitchen with a frying utensil. By the time her mom had roundly abused her dad Sakura would have escaped to her room and her parents would have forgotten the question altogether.

They did not live up to her expectations.

After blinking in surprise, they exchanged a serious look; a look that only married couples who've lived together for a very long time can manage.

"To protect you, of course, sweet heart," her mother told her. Her mother patted her father's fading pink hair with a smile and he wrapped an arm around her waist giving off the image of a couple completely and totally in love.

Her father never to ignore a joke laughed jovially before saying, "And the rest of the village, of course. But mainly you."

They shared a smile and Sakura stared at them in shock.

"To protect me?" she cautiously questioned.

"Well yes and the rest of our friends and your little blond friend and really the whole future of Konoha" her mother told her. As her father's hand began to descend just a bit too far her mother slapped him. She had so much experience disciplining her husband that her eye's never even turned away from Sakura's own or acknowledged her dad's attempt. Sakura long used to their antics ignored it as well while her father mock pouted. It'd been an enlightening family discussion.

So that was how Sakura ended up yelling after Tsunade's retreating back, "I want to be a medic nin so I can save all my friends and all their friends from dying!"

Tsunade had brushed off the pink haired girl earlier but now she froze before spinning around to stare at her. A cruel smirk descended over her features.

"Shizune!" she yelled before continuing, "Prepare training ground three!"

The black haired lady next to Tsunade who Sakura could only assume was Shizune jumped at the loud tone before saying, "Of course! Right away Tsunade-sama."

As the black haired woman ran off Tsunade's smirk descended on Sakura as she told her, "Tomorrow training ground three. Six o'clock. Don't be late."

"You won't regret this! I promise I'll work my hardest and do my best to..." Sakura began.

But Sakura didn't get to finish as Tsunade put up a hand to stop her before leaning forward so her face was right in front of Sakura's. She grinned maliciously and Sakura had to swallow nervously.

"Be prepared for the hardest training of your life," the blond medic told her before removing her face from Sakura's. She then turned and walked away as if nothing had ever happened. Sakura stared at her before shivering in fear. She had a horrible premonition about tomorrow.

XXX XXX XXX

Sasuke had been wrong. In fact he'd been horribly wrong. Naruto wasn't injured at all. This should have been a good thing, but it totally wasn't. Because in a way he'd also been right. They hadn't been mad at him. They couldn't be mad at him. You couldn't be mad at someone you'd forgotten about.

Sasuke had arrived at Naruto's house expecting the blond to be in bed. Instead the blond was running around his backyard being chased by an angry Hibachi for hoarding all the dango. That annoyed Sasuke. He'd been hoping it would just be Naruto and Ami. Hibachi would just get in the way.

In the past couple weeks he'd been patiently waiting for them to return and now he'd have to wait even longer. If he was lucky he could get Ami to kick the loser out. He'd been given a bombshell and he needed to talk about it with them or he'd explode. Hibachi was simply in the way. He also felt as if he should tell them about his kekkei genkai. He'd spent a lot of sleepless nights coming to that conclusion, but they were his best friends. They deserved to know. They'd understand and accept it; he just knew it.

He'd casually walked into the yard expecting an exuberant greeting from Naruto that he'd have to pretend not to enjoy. Instead, Naruto blinked at him as if surprised he even existed and Hibachi used the opportunity to tackle the preoccupied Namikaze.

"Not fair! I was distracted!" an angry Naruto yelled at Hibachi glowering at the dango the other boy had stolen.

Hibachi adjusted his handkerchief which was falling off from the tussle before he smirked cockily and proclaimed, "That's what they all say!"

Naruto pouted. Sasuke still hadn't been acknowledged by either boy.

At that moment Ami exited the house carrying a tray of snacks. She was watching her feet to make sure she didn't trip on the stairs before she glanced up and spotted Sasuke.

"Sasuke?" she questioned looking very surprised and then adding in confusion, "Shouldn't you be with your team?"

For a moment Sasuke frowned at her.

"I thought I'd come and see you guys and hear about your mission," he told them moodily. Here he knew he wouldn't be disappointed. Naruto would jump into a rendition and the next thing they knew they'd be back to how everything always was.

But again Naruto failed to perform to expectations. He just shrugged.

It was Hibachi who answered, but he turned to Naruto and ignored Sasuke.

"It was awesome when you used that wind jutsu. Those guys had no idea what hit them. And then…," the boy gushed.

But before he could finish Naruto interrupted, "It destroyed all the mist!"

The two boys shared a grin, but Ami yawned in boredom as she put the tray down in front of the two boys

"How much chakra did you put into that?" Ami questioned a bit condescendingly.

Naruto pouted before saying, "Not that much!"

"Yeah right!" Hibachi heatedly argued.

"Well you still got to admit it was cool. Way cooler than your stupid earth jutsu. What were you thinking? Trying to destroy the bridge, Hibachi?" Naruto taunted.

At that the two began to argue trying to outdo the other as Ami at turns laughed and attempted to play peacemaker. Sasuke could only stare at them. They'd formed a circle as they traded stories. Sasuke wondered if he should go join the circle but he couldn't even begin to understand what they were talking about. For awhile he awkwardly stood there. Eventually they'd notice him, he assumed. They were his best friends! And they liked him better than Hibachi anyways. They were just trying to be friendly to the other boy before they kicked him out in favor of Sasuke. Yes, of course, that was it. After a minute passed Sasuke began to shake from foot to foot in nervous tension. This was taking forever. After five minutes Sasuke could only come to the conclusion that something was terribly wrong. What should he do?

When it hit the six minute mark which felt like eternity to Sasuke and he still hadn't been acknowledged he came to the horrific conclusion that his best friends had completely forgotten he was even there. Swallowing down his embarrassment he stared at the circle for a moment with longing before quietly slipping away.

It wouldn't be until fifteen minutes later that Hibachi, looking up after a moment as Ami and Naruto argued about whether or not blue skin was possible, noticed Sasuke was no longer there.

"Hey, where'd Sasuke go?" he questioned his teammates. His handkerchief wrinkled on his forehead as he frowned in confusion. Naruto just shrugged again while Ami looked around in puzzlement.

She fingered her purple hair before shrugging and saying, "He probably got bored and went to see his teammates."

It didn't seem like a huge deal to Naruto or Ami so Hibachi shrugged and let it go. For all he knew Sasuke disappeared randomly all the time.

XXX XXX XXX

It was getting to be dark out as Ami headed home. Naruto had offered dinner at his house, but Ami had to refuse. Her mom was expecting her home and she couldn't just ditch because then her mom would have to eat dinner all alone. And what could be lonelier than that?

When she arrived at her apartment and began to take off her sandals she was surprised to see two pairs already there. She knew they weren't expecting company. They never had company. But she could hear faint voices coming from the kitchen. Frowning she strained her ears to hear the conversation. She recognized her mom's voice, but the other was foreign to her. Hiding her confusion she slowly crept around the corner so she could listen in. There was a wall that opened into the kitchen which she leaned against. Carefully she used all her ninja skills to quickly glance around the corner.

In the kitchen stood two figures. Her mother stood facing her. Her brown eyes perfectly matched Ami's and for a moment they locked with Ami's in surprise. The other figure must have noticed because he spun around but by then Ami had already returned to hiding behind the wall. Only after counting to five in her head did Ami dare look back into the kitchen.

The male standing in front of her mother had perfectly straight gray hair. He stood with perfect posture and Ami would bet he was wearing a stern frown. He never smiled when mother was involved. Everything about him was perfect from his clothes to his reputation. The only black spot as far as he was concerned was Ami's mother. Ami's hands balled into a fist. What was grandfather doing here?

"Of course I'll give you the money," her grandfather was saying condescendingly as he shook his head. Ami frowned. Grandfather was extremely wealthy and part of the civilian council. He didn't let anyone forget that he had come from a long line of nobles. Grandfather liked to boast that only three generations ago their ancestor had been brother to the daimyo. Ami didn't know if it was true, but she didn't think it was something you could get away with lying about. He'd expected his only daughter to marry someone of equal standing and had even arranged a marriage for her. But his willful daughter had fallen in love with a purple haired Shinobi and run away with him.

Her mother's voice was soft and sad as she answered, "Father, I don't need the money. We've talked about this."

"Don't need the money? Are you kidding me? Just look at you!" Grandfather argued in annoyance. Mother's face was lined and her hair hung over her face looking just as tired and weary as she did. Ami sighed before glancing across the small crumbly apartment at the adorned picture of her father. It wasn't mom's fault. Dad had died in the Kyuubi attack and she'd been left pregnant and alone. At the time she'd been ostracized from her family and so had nowhere to turn. The first years, Ami remembers, were hell. Mom was almost never home as she desperately tried to make ends meet. She'd never worked a day in her life before then and had no skills at all to begin to with. Of course she'd get lines.

"You never should have married him! He wasn't good enough for you. All he managed to do with himself was die and saddle you with a kid you couldn't possibly take care of. A kid with his same freakish purple hair," her grandfather snorted in disgust. Her mother didn't bother defending herself. She'd heard it all enough before to not bother. Ami growled angrily. Even with dad dead grandfather couldn't think of one nice thing to say about him. Sometimes Ami thought she hated him.

Her grandfather pushed the money into his daughter's hand before saying, "I'll be going now."

Ami's eyes widened in panic before she desperately pushed herself up the wall until she was crouching on the ceiling. She didn't need her grandfather's lecture. However, she needn't have bothered. He didn't even look back as he marched out of their two bedroom apartment. Ami watched him leave before jumping down and walking into the kitchen. Her mother was still there holding the money in apparent confusion. Her eyes were blank as Ami reached to take the money out of her hand, but as Ami tugged slightly her mother's grip tightened and she refused to let it go. Her eyes turned wild and scared and she gripped the money as if her life depended on it.

"Mom it's me…. Ami. It's okay. Just let go of the money. We'll put it away for vacation," Ami coaxed her mother. At the word vacation her Mom snapped out of it and she turned her wide hopeful eyes on Ami.

"Vacation?" she questioned softly. Ami grimaced a little before nodding as she gently pried the money out of her mother's hands. As a child she'd been jealous of the way Ino could spend money like it grew on trees. But Ino was a Yamanaka, so it made sense. Yet even Sakura could spend more money than Ami. There had never been quite enough money in the Kato household to go around. Nowadays it was better, Ami liked to think. Nowadays mother no longer had to work. Nowadays grandfather paid the bills. Nowadays Ami's mother was home all day alone. Nowadays she sat staring at the enshrined picture of her dead husband as if that would bring him back to life. Nowadays, Ami knows, it was not all better. Money couldn't fix her mother.

"Help me with dinner?" her mother's soft voice asked interrupting Ami's train of thought. Ami merely nodded before grabbing a knife to begin chopping the vegetables. This had always been Ami's favorite time with her mother. When they were preparing dinner and her mother's soft humming would fill the small kitchen it would seem as if everything was the way it should be. Ami could always tell if her mother was truly there, though. As they would work, Ami's purple hair would contrast with her mother's pale brown. When her mother was off in the land only she could reach she would stare at it transfixed. Just like your father's she would tell Ami. Tonight, luckily, was not one of those nights. Her mother's eyes remained perfectly clear.

They sat for dinner and her mother's soft brown eyes so similar to Ami's lit up with pride. She pushed Ami's hair out of her face before commanding her daughter, "Tell me about your day."

It was a nightly ritual that only occurred when her mother's eyes remained clear which was disappointingly rare. So Ami happily obliged her by spinning stories of her teammates and lazy sensei much to her mother's enjoyment.

"Hibachi's nowhere near as bad as I thought he'd be. I'm actually kind of glad he's on our team even if he did replace..."Ami told her mother before pausing. She'd almost said Sasuke's name. When she'd been little even mentioning Sasuke's name could send her mother into one of her fits until she'd learned only to talk about Naruto instead.

"Who?" her mother questioned. When she wasn't in one of her moods her mother was an excellent listener. She was waiting for an answer and Ami had no idea what to say. Instead she glanced at her mother's perfectly clear eyes. It was uncommon, and Ami wondered if she should risk ruining it.

"Ahhh mom. Why… Why don't you like bringing up Sasuke?" Ami hesitantly questioned. Her mother's eyes quickly darted over to the enshrined picture of dad and for a horrifying moment Ami thought she had lost her mother again. But instead she turned back to Ami and looking at her eyes Ami could tell she was still lucid. Ami let out a relieved breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding.

"Of course I don't mind Sasuke," her mother told her. But her pinched lips and pained expression gave her away. For a moment Ami frowned before she glanced back at her dad's photo. Her mother noticed her looking and flinched. Ami stared at her in shock before an idea developed.

"Mom, does it have anything to do with dad's death?" she questioned breathlessly. Her mother didn't say anything, but her lips pinched even more and her forehead creased together.

"No… no, no! He's just a boy. No, no. He didn't do anything. He couldn't do anything. No, no, no…." her mother hastily argued. But to Ami it sounded like she was just trying to convince herself. She kept repeating no, no, no until her eyes were wild and crazy again. Ami groaned as fierce guilt filled her. She'd ruined another dinner with her ill placed questions. Her mother left the table as if in a trance to kneel in front of the photo.

She remained kneeling as she said, "No, no, no. **HE **killed you not the boy."

For a moment Ami blinked in shock. Who was the he? Her father had been killed by the Kyuubi, hadn't he? For a moment confusion reigned before she came to a sinking realization. Did your parents do something, she'd asked Sasuke. Was the he Sasuke's father? Had Sasuke's father killed lots of Shinobi? The idea was terrifyingly plausible. It would explain the caution that almost all the older Shinobi favored Sasuke with and the glares he sometimes received. It would also explain why some Shinobi just chose to ignore the boy. Could Sasuke be the son of a monster?

"Is the he Sasuke's dad?" Ami questioned her mother over her outbursts. But at this point her mother was too far gone. It seemed unlikely that she'd even heard the question much less that she could answer it. Had Sasuke's dad killed her dad? The more Ami thought about it the more likely it seemed. It would explain so much. What other possibility was there for the village's bizarre treatment of Sasuke? And a part of her approved of their treatment. He deserved it. Because his dad hadn't just killed her dad, he'd destroyed her mother, too. He'd destroyed her whole family.

Of course, Ami realized with a start that was assuming it was Sasuke's dad, which was ridiculous. The Kyuubi had killed her dad not Sasuke's father! She knew that. But somehow she kept being drawn back to the villager's treatment of Sasuke. The fastest way for her mother to lose it was mentioning the black haired boy. What did that mean? Was Sasuke somehow connected to the Kyuubi?

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto would admit that he felt a little guilty. He hadn't been planning on ignoring Sasuke. It had just sort of happened. It didn't make matters better that his mom had questioned him constantly about why Sasuke hadn't stayed for dinner. It was Sasuke this and Sasuke that and frankly Naruto was sick of it. Why was it always Sasuke? Why couldn't it be Naruto sometimes? He was just as good as Sasuke, wasn't he? Hadn't he proved that on the wave mission? He'd shown everyone that he didn't need Sasuke. He'd done just fine himself. Sasuke couldn't have done better, Naruto thought spitefully.

So the next day when Sasuke had dropped by looking a little nervous, Naruto had exalted in making the other boy uncomfortable. He'd added very little to the conversation. Ami was also noticeably reclusive. While Naruto responded slightly she said practically nothing. It was almost as if she refused to look at the other boy, scared of what she might see. Sasuke was confused and uncertain which was a rarity as they'd been friends for so long and Naruto planned on savoring the moment for as long as possible. A guilty part of him suggested that his actions weren't very nice, but he chose to ignore that part. He was just messing with Sasuke, working out his inner jealousy. Sasuke was his best friend after all.

When Sasuke asked if they wanted to go out to eat he gave the other boy a vague answer just to mess with him. But unexpectedly Ami did the same.

"Ahh" Sasuke said, "I guess I'll go. See you. I guess."

He seemed confused and a bit downtrodden by the whole thing. Naruto blinked and watched the other boy leave in a confused shock before turning to Ami.

"You were supposed to have us go to lunch with him! I was just messing with him!" Naruto told her angrily.

Ami merely huffed before saying, "I don't want to talk about it. Let's just go for lunch now, okay? I'm hungry."

As Naruto followed the purple haired girl to lunch he was completely confused. What was going on? Ami like loved Sasuke. She always sided with him in arguments. Whenever the other boy wasn't around she'd bring him up. The two of them had been friends forever. She would never turn him down for lunch like that especially if she was hungry herself. Except… well, she just had. And instead she'd decided to have lunch with him. For the first time perhaps ever, Naruto was coming first. Naruto wasn't sure if he liked it. He just felt like a crummy friend.

XXX XXX XXX

That night Sasuke was surprised and worried. He could put off yesterday's encounter as a fluke, but then being blown off for lunch too? What was going on? Had he done something? Groaning in frustration the tired boy racked his mind for what he possibly could have done. Sasuke had done a lot in the last couple of weeks.

As part of their training they'd each learned a solid clone based on their elemental technique. Sasuke's affinity was actually fire, but he had a strong enough secondary affinity to pull off the raiton clone. Fuki had learned doton kage bunshin and Kota, who also had a fire affinity, had learned just plain old kage bunshin. Both Kota and Sasuke thought it was a little weird that a katon kage bunshin had never been developed. Kota had complained endlessly about the lack of it and claimed he was going to create it. Fuki hadn't helped by mocking the other boy about his lack of elemental clone until Kota's face was red. Sasuke wasn't sure if it was red with embarrassment or anger.

Shisui claimed that clones were one of the best jutsus for deception. His students had agreed; they could easily see the many benefits. But, Kota, who had the smallest amount of chakra, argued that the chakra drain wasn't worth it. Fuki had agreed. Neither of them could create more than one and even that took a lot of their chakra. This had surprised Sasuke. He hardly noticed the chakra drain at all. When he tried to create just one clone he sometimes accidentally ended up with two. He'd known he had more chakra than most, but he'd never realized just how much more he had.

Since they were given so little free time with their constant training, and creating clones was surprisingly easy for Sasuke, he created a clone every day to do his chores and catch up with his friends and classmates.

On one memorable day he had looked at his calendar only to realize it was July 10th. He had groaned. Today was Namikaze Kushina's birthday and she expected a gift. The second year of his friendship with Naruto when he hadn't gotten the woman a gift she'd spent all day giving him sad puppy dog eyes one moment and the next eyes filled with angry fire. He'd never forgotten since then. Not to steal a line from someone else, but this was decidedly troublesome.

His clone had spent an hour skulking around the market area looking for an appropriate gift before spotting Sakura. With her pink hair she was always easy to see.

"Hey, Sakura. Could you help me?" a desperate Sasuke asked the girl. Sakura had been looking at knick knacks and glanced up in surprise.

She shrugged before telling him, "Sure. What do you need help with? I don't have anything better to do anyways."

Her face had a decidedly downward tilt to it and she looked depressed. Sasuke had heard about her quest to figure out why she was a ninja from Naruto and could guess she still didn't have an answer.

"It's Naruto's mom's birthday today and she's expecting a gift from me, but I don't know what to get," he admitted to the pinkette before continuing, "It doesn't have to be anything extravagant. It just has to show I didn't forget."

Sakura nodded before thinking deeply. With something to occupy herself with she didn't seem anywhere near as depressed. Instead she began mumbling to herself as she sifted through various ideas. Sasuke shifted from foot to foot as he glanced around the market in boredom. He could see his tomatoes down the street beckoning for him. Maybe while Sakura was distracted he could go buy some. As he began to inch away she grabbed him by his shoulder putting him back into place. He growled with frustration before deciding he might as well patiently wait. Five minutes later Sasuke was still patiently waiting. He glanced longingly at his tomatoes again and then back at the mumbling girl. Again he tried to inch away only to be pulled back by Sakura. Sasuke wasn't even sure she knew she was doing it. Ten minutes later he was still waiting. Giving it up as a lost cause he sat down on the ground in the middle of the market place. At the exact moment he sat down Sakura shot to life.

"I know! You should get her flowers! Every lady likes flowers," she told him. Sasuke shrugged not looking too enthused.

"Hey. I even know where you can get them at. Ino's family owns a flower shop. Maybe they'll give you a discount. Here's the address," the pinkette told him as she hastily wrote it down on a scrap of paper for him. Sasuke glanced at it, realized he didn't have any better ideas, took the piece of paper and said goodbye. Well, at least Sakura looked happy now.

When he entered the Yamanaka flower store he'd been surprised to see Yamanaka Ino working there.

"Ehhh, Ino? Why aren't you training?" his clone had asked. He shouldn't have. The annoyed blond with fire in her eyes had then begun an angry rant about lazy teammates, lazy senseis, and the lack of worth of boys in general. As Sasuke had slowly inched towards the exit in hopes of making a quick escape the blond's eyes had lit up. Sasuke had panicked and begun to run for the door. He'd seen that look before. Whenever Naruto had an idea or Ami had just discovered a new conspiracy their eyes lit up in the exact same way.

He'd underestimated the Yamanaka. Before he could even reach the door she'd caught him.

"Where are you going, Sasuke? You're going to help me train!" Ino had told him. The way she said it made it seem like both a threat and a promise. Her grip on his arm refused to budge no matter how much he tried to escape as she dragged him to the closest training ground. He hadn't realized she was so strong.

Sasuke sweat dropped when she let him go before telling her, "Ehhh… Ino, I don't think this is a good idea. You see I'm not actually…"

But he didn't get to even finish. Ino was sick and tired of her lazy teammates and was bursting to fight. She was done with excuses. She'd heard enough of them from Shikamaru in the last week to last the rest of her life.

"C'mon Sasuke! Are you scared? Don't want to lose to a girl?" the blond taunted. As Sasuke continued to try to explain the blond tuned him out. Instead she lunged forward and punched him solidly across the face. Sasuke hadn't been expecting it at all. The punch hit and for a moment Sasuke looked into Ino's triumphant eyes. His last thought was oh crap, before he exploded in a bolt of lightning.

The Sasuke at training froze in shock. He could have sworn he could hear Ino's shout all the way from across the village. He was so dead.

Ino's rage hadn't been as bad as Sasuke had expected. She'd tricked him into buying her lunch and then had somehow gotten him to agree to train with her whenever he was free because as she said it her teammates were lazy bakas and if they didn't shape up they were all going to die and someone needed to pick up their slack. She was a little pissed that it had to be her though. Sasuke had never realized just how manipulative the blond could be until he found himself agreeing to train with her without even realizing it. Apparently she wasn't a Yamanaka for nothing. He felt a little bad for her teammates, though.

But, the real problem was that Ino had told his team. Shisui hadn't been bothered, Itachi had seemed slightly amused, and Kota had stared at Sasuke in awe wondering how he was still alive. It was Fuki that worried Sasuke. Fuki had sported a strange grin that made all those who saw it grimace. She hadn't said anything, but Sasuke could bet she was manically laughing in her head.

The next day clone Sasuke was unsurprised to see Fuki in the marketplace. The doton clone interrupted Sasuke in minute fifty eight of his tomato shopping. He'd been so close. All he needed to do was pay! He wouldn't be surprised if the clone had been watching him waiting for the most opportune moment to strike. So, instead of getting his shopping done he'd gotten to run from the psychopathic clone all day. Ever since then he'd had to pay special attention to his surroundings. The trip to the market that Namikaze had ruined was the third trip in a row where Sasuke's tomato shopping had gone unfinished. Sometimes Sasuke really hated his auburn haired teammate.

But they hadn't just learned cool jutsu. The first couple days Sasuke had been confused. On some days they reviewed the basic academy three. For Sasuke it had seemed like a waste of time. What was the point? They'd practiced escaping from ropes and kunai throwing. They'd attached wires to weapons and thrown them manipulating the path the whole time. It was all basic academy stuff. Sometimes they got to learn cool jutsu, though. These were ninjutsu and technique days, Shisui claimed.

Other days were taijutsu days. They always started these days with a race. Some days they'd race from training ground to training ground. Other times it would be a race on the roofs through Konoha. Sometimes their races occurred on water were they had to water walk. Most of the time their races involved tree hopping, but every once in awhile they'd race through an obstacle course. Shisui taught them to enhance their muscles with chakra for these races. After, they'd spend the rest of the morning going through their taijutsu katas. Shisui would come around and adjust certain stances and give tips and pointers. After going through the full katas for at least an hour they'd take a break for lunch before Shisui would assign each of them a skill to work on. Sometimes Sasuke would have to do the same kick over and over for hours until he could do it perfectly. He dreaded being assigned a punch because then his knuckles would bleed for days. Shisui claimed it was all about developing muscle memory.

After they'd all collapsed, they'd spend the afternoon working on theoretical strategy. Sometimes it was boring as hell, Sasuke would admit. It didn't help that Shisui only allowed them to use the academy three when planning their strategies. Their sensei took great pleasure in ripping their plans to bits especially when it seemed they weren't putting that much effort into it. That night they'd do muscle endurance. They'd have to do sit-ups, pushups, squats, crunches, weightlifting, and anything else Shisui could come up with.

Any day after a taijutsu day they'd meet later and do D ranked missions for most of the morning. They'd take a long lunch break before they began mock fights. The fights had very clear rules. Some might be taijutsu only spars. Sometimes they were on teams and other times it was every man for himself. They'd perform mock missions where they could only use the academy three. It was simulation training. It was also Sasuke's favorite day.

Unfortunately for Sasuke it was a ninujutsu and technique day. He was irritably going through the motions of a kawarmi when Shisui-sensei came up to him.

"Something wrong Sasuke?" the Uchiha asked.

Sasuke glanced at his teacher in annoyance before asking with a growl, "What's the point of this?"

Shisui blinked in surprise before glancing at his other students. Kota was lackadaisically transforming from person to person with a bored expression on his face while Fuki was swearing aggressively at one of her bunshin.

"Students… Students! Come here," Shisui ushered them into a circle before saying, "I don't believe you understand the point of this exercise. You know that I know that you know how to do the academy three. So why are we working on them? Fuki what are the hand seals for bunshin?"

Fuki who'd been glowering at the clouds in the distance jolted into awareness. Kota exchanged a baffled glance with Sasuke.

"Ram, snake, tiger," Fuki told their sensei in slight confusion.

Shisui nodded as he twirled grass in his hands before responding, "Yes, yes, yes. And how much smoke does it produce, Kota?"

The brown haired boy stared at their sensei with uncertainty. He twiddled with his fingerless gloves in thought.

"Isn't that a trick question, sensei?" he hesitantly asked. Shisui's eyebrows merely rose in surprise before nodding at Kota to continue.

"Well… Different people produce different amounts of smoke," Kota told him carefully.

Shisui-sensei smirked before standing and saying grandly, "Yes. Different people produce different smoke. Just like different people use different hand seals. Watch closely."

With that Shisui-sensei slowly began forming his hands into seals. Sasuke watching closely was shocked to see tiger, boar, ox, and then dog in rapid succession. Three bunshin popped into existence around the Uchiha.

"But that's not possible!" Kota exclaimed.

"Meh meh. Just like you can change the amount of smoke you can change the hand seals when you know a jutsu inside and out. You're right. It probably wouldn't be possible with a higher level jutsu. But with these basics it is," Shisui informed them before plopping back down on the grass.

He glanced at his students before asking, "What possibilities are there with this, Sasuke?"

Sasuke frowned in thought before slowly saying, "Well. You could convince your opponent that you're doing one jutsu and do a completely different one."

Shisui hummed in agreement before laying back in the grass.

"Anything else?" he questioned. Fuki shrugged.

"Nothing? My students you disappoint me!" Shisui told them dramatically.

Kota hesitantly asked, "Well couldn't you theoretically use no seals then?"

Shisui rose up and smirked at the boy.

"You are officially my favorite student. The rest of you be jealous," Shisui had told an uncaring Sasuke and Fuki. Shisui had then explained that the point of working on the academy three was to master them to the point where they could control everything.

"Just like when you master basic taijutsu you get to learn the next more advanced katas, it's the same for ninjutsu. Master these and we'll move on," Shisui told them. His words had sprung all three genin into action. They were dying to move on.

But it was harder than it looked. Sasuke couldn't control the number of bunshin he got to appear. At the academy they hadn't cared that he made ten instead of three, but for Shisui sensei it wasn't good enough. Until they could control the jutsu perfectly with seals there was no way they could attempt it without seals, Shisui told them. Kota struggled on the transformation. He could transform, but if someone gave him a specific design that wasn't based off someone Kota knew it came out garbled. Fuki couldn't get her bunshin to not have any smoke and spent about as much time yelling at the bunshin as performing the technique.

But it wasn't all bad. Sasuke found the kawarmi was surprisingly easy for him. In a matter of days he could pop in and out of harm without seals with little to no difficulty. It was tremendously fun for his teammates to think they had him only to realize at the last possible second he'd escaped. He was shocked to find that on one of his market escapades his clone had kawarmi'd away from Fuki. He hadn't realized his clones could do techniques as well. It made sense though. They had just as much chakra as he did.

When he'd shared that discovery his teammates had been surprised. Kota had stared at him before immediately creating a kage bunshin. Fuki and Sasuke watched slightly intrigued, though Fuki tried to make it seem as if she wasn't interested. The kage bunshin immediately began to work on perfecting the henge. Kota watched it for a moment before turning away and beginning to work out the kinks with his bunshin technique.

"How's that going to help?" an intrigued Fuki asked. Kota shrugged looking pleased with himself for having successfully confused his two teammates. Fuki growled at the boy before looking at Sasuke in annoyance. Sasuke just shrugged. Fuki continued to watch Kota before smirking. She spun around and in a bold move punched Kota's shadow clone, who currently looked like a cross between Ino and Sakura, dispelling it. Kota turned around and stared at her his mouth hanging open.

"Why'd you do that? It was helping me train! Jeez Fuki. I thought it was obvious. If there's two of me I can do two things at once which means I can do this twice as fast," Kota told her annoyed. Fuki blinked at him before looking at the spot the clone had stood in.

A vaguely embarrassed look spread over her face before she offered, "Oops?"

Their training had moved a lot faster after that. Fuki had been so pleased with her progress that in a rare show of goodwill she'd taken her two teammates out for dinner and even paid for them. Sasuke had been happy with his team and how everything was progressing. The day he'd asked Naruto and Ami to lunch was the day they'd all finally mastered all three of them. They'd had to wait on Fuki's bunshin, but with Kota and Sasuke's combined help it hadn't taken that long.

Shisui-sensei had given a big grand speech that he'd probably practiced for weeks in advance about how to be a good ninja you had to have a perfect base. Kota had fallen asleep in the middle of it and only the threat of water being poured on him from Fuki had kept Sasuke awake. He had never been more relieved than after they broke their chakra paper to see their elemental affinity. If Fuki had been water they never would have had a moments rest. Luckily after Shisui-sensei's speech he'd decided they were ready to move onto something else. Sasuke had been ecstatic. Maybe they'd learn something cool like how to make their clones explode or even how to shunshin.

"Guess what we're going to learn now!" Shisui sensei offered. All three genin leaned in close eyes wide with hope of an awesome jutsu.

Shisui grinned widely before proclaiming, "We're going to learn how to dispel genjutsu!"

He made it seem as if it were the most interesting lesson possible. All three genin stared at him for a moment before registering what he had said. Kota who had woken up for the announcement groaned and went back to sleep. Sasuke began hitting his head against the ground. Fuki kicked her feet and hands up and down looking as if she were barely restraining herself from throwing a temper tantrum. This sucked. Their girlish sensei stood up with a smile.

"We'll meet again tomorrow! Enjoy your afternoon off. Also Itachi will be back from his mission by then, so be prepared for a fun time!" the Uchiha told them before disappearing in leaves.

Sasuke groaned. Another bad thing to top the scale. Itachi hadn't been to training since Shisui's ninja in darkness speech because he'd been on some mission. Sasuke had frankly been glad to see the creepy older boy go. He shared a look with his other teammates before they all left to go in separate directions. Sasuke had gone to ask Naruto and Ami to lunch. When that had fallen through he'd wandered the streets only to be ambushed by Ino.

Apparently he hadn't been keeping his promise. Instead of the relaxing afternoon he'd been looking forward to he had to train all afternoon with the loud blond. Luckily she'd been so impressed by his kawarmi and then the bunshins he'd used to distract her that she'd spent the rest of the afternoon trying to perfect the academy three instead of sparring with him leaving Sasuke free to sit back and relax.

"How'd you get them to appear with no smoke? That's what really caught me off guard! I thought they were you," Ino excitedly told him. Sasuke just shrugged amusedly. But a part of him was deep in thought as he lounged under a tree watching Ino's progress or rather Ino's lack of progress. What was going on with Ami and Naruto?

XXX XXX XXX

**Author's Note**

**It was just brought to my attention, but someone thought my characters were OC. I hate OC characters that have no basis in the story at all. The only OC's I have used are Ami's mom and grandfather. Everyone else actually exists in the Naruto world. If you can figure out where they all come from I'll be super impressed. **


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